More Than One Way To Calm a Highblood
by Angelia Dark
Summary: When John arrives on the meteor, he never got the memo about Gamzee, who finds him and becomes obsessed with taking something else that calms his Highblood psychosis.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

One of the first things John was expecting coming onto this place to meet everyone certainly wasn't a 'team meeting' for the low-down on everything as well as a game plan. God, if he wanted to be bored like this, he would've never started the session and resigned himself to being bored in math class.

Scratch that. MATH CLASS was more interesting than this.

John yawned, not even paying attention at this point. All he wanted to do was go around, meet everyone, catch up with Rose and Dave, and maybe have some fun. By this point, Karkat's voice had become a drone that John couldn't even follow anymore. He decided to slip out and try to find the kitchen, praying they had a coffee machine here. Any more 'team meetings' and he'd need it for days to come.

The rest of the meter wasn't as colorful as the rec room, and in fact, it looked like some kind of weird abandoned factory. It was really creepy, to be perfectly honest. He found himself rubbing his arms, getting the chills.

Maybe he should've stuck it out and asked for directions.

As he walked past a corridor that lead off from the main hall, he was unaware that someone was watching him.

* * *

"…and that's really about it. Any fucking questions now, because I don't want to have to fucking repeat myself like a gogdamn squawkbeast." Karkat looked around, DARING anyone to go over anything again.

"Yeah, I got a question," Dave said, raising his hand.

"What is it, Strider?" Karkat grumbled.

"You suck. Let's eat!" Dave dodged the pillow thrown at his head and hurried out the door. Karkat rolled his eyes, giving the room a once-over pausing.

"…..Where the fuck is Egbert?" he demanded. He couldn't have left before Dave…the idiot Heir looked about ready to start hugging him as soon as he arrived, and he truly expected to be glomped as soon as he was done talking.

"Oh, he left like, a half-hour ago," Terezi said. She had tasted the 'fresh blue air' scoot past her, but didn't think it was important enough to speak up. Karkat glowered.

"UGH, that fuckwad!" he snapped. "Did he listen to ANYTH—" He trailed off, feeling a sense of terror seize up his spine, grabbing Terezi's shoulders. "DID HE LEAVE BEFORE OR AFTER I EXPLAINED ABOUT GAMZEE?!"

"Uhm….I think it was before—"

"FUCK!"

* * *

Yep. He was lost. BALLS.

John sighed as he hit another dead-end. This was starting to get REALLY irritating, to be honest. And he couldn't even remember if he had turned right or left at that last big intersection. Maybe if he took one of those teleportation thingies…

 _ ***honk***_

…..the heck was THAT?

John looked around for the sound he'd just heard, but saw nothing. He shrugged. Maybe it was just a piece of equipment malfunctioning. He turned and headed back down the hall to where he saw one of the transportalizers, thinking that even if he managed to find the bathroom level, it would be an improvement.

 _ ***HONK***_

He jumped, looking around again. Okay, that was NOT malfunctioning equipment. That was a freaking honk. He scratched his head. What the hell could make a honk like THAT? Weird.

 _ ***hoooooooooooonk***_

John glanced down a hallway he hadn't been down before, stepping into it, seeing it too led to a dead end. Seriously though, why all the dead ends? It made no freaking sense—

He turned around to get back to the main hall and bumped into something.

 _ **"HONK!"**_

John yelped, jumping back, a breeze stemming from his surprise kicking up slightly, staring at the chest of a troll. He wrinkled his nose a little. That shirt smelled like it hadn't been washed in weeks. His eyes trailed up, seeing a fanged grin; even higher, yellow eyes staring down at him, almost glowing in the dim lighting. And…oh man, that was a LOT of hair. And reeeeally sharp horns…

He stepped back again to take in the whole picture, jumping when the troll shot a hand out to hold onto his shoulder to keep him from moving back. "Uhhh…."

"…You smell motherfuckin' nice, motherfucker," the troll said, his voice a low, slow drawl with a bit of scratchiness behind it, like he hadn't used it in a while. He looked John over lazily, eyes honing in on the Aspect sign on John's chest. "…God Tier windy motherfucker," he commented. His hand flexed into John's shoulder.

John winced slightly. Those claws were SHARP. "I…don't think we've been introduced…" he said. "I'm John Egbert." He saw the troll's grin widen, showing off more teeth—oh GOD those were some sharp teeth…!

"Gamzee motherfuckin' Makara," Gamzee replied, eyeing John over again. The windy motherfucker smelled like fresh air…he hadn't smelled that in so long. It reminded him of his hive by the sea...

John yelped when Gamzee shoved him against the wall and growled, feeling the troll bury his face in his hair and inhale deeply. He awkwardly wondered if this was a troll thing. "Um…" he began, only to be silenced by a louder, sharper growl.

It was DEFINITELY salty sea air Gamzee smelled. It was bringing back SO many memories. Memories of him as a newly-pupated kid playing in the surf. Memories of sitting in the sand until the sun rose, waiting for his lusus to come home…memories of being so FUCKING hungry and eating the only thing that smelled even remotely good—sopor slime…memories…memories….dull pain….smile through the dull pain…pain…PAIN…..PAIN….!

John yelped, jerking in Gamzee's hold as the troll's claws dug painfully into his shoulders. "OW, LET GO, YOU'RE HURTING ME!" he yelled.

Gamzee snarled, pulling John from the wall and slamming him back against it. "Shut the motherfuck up!" he snarled. "Motherfuckin' windy boy makin' my motherfuckin' think pan hurt! You think you're motherfuckin' FUNNY!?"

"NO!" John yelped, clenching his eyes shut. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"

"I SAID SHUT THE MOTHERFUCK UP, MOTHERFUCKER!" Gamzee's low drawl was hitting a higher, more insane pitch. He clenched his hands into John's arms tighter, eyes narrowing. Little blue motherfucker said he was sorry. NONE of the motherfuckers in this place ever told him that. He growled. First the newcomer fills his think pan with motherfucking MEMORIES, and then he apologizes for it…..ow…..it only made his head hurt even MORE—!

John was shaking, keeping his eyes clenched shut. What had he done wrong?! He started to panic, a wind kicking up in the hallway, and he suddenly felt the troll's grip on his arms relax. …what? He peeked an eye open, seeing Gamzee looking down at him, a confused expression on his face.

Gamzee smelled something else now. It smelled like countryside air and leather…almost like… All he saw was red, slamming John against the wall again. "YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" he shrieked. "YOU FUCKING MOTHERFUCKER! WHY DO YOU MOTHERFUCKING SMELL LIKE HIM!?" He slammed John against the wall again. "STOP IT! STOP IT RIGHT THE MOTHERFUCK NOW!"

John yelped, shaking. "PLEASE!" he shouted. "I'M NOT DOING IT ON PURPOSE, JUST STOP!" He pushed at Gamzee's chest, looking up pleadingly. "PLEASE…!" He paused, seeing that Gamzee was glowering at him hatefully, but crying copious purple tears. He looked so angry, but so SAD…

"….I'm sorry," John said. "I don't know what I'm doing, but I swear, I'm sorry…" He winced when Gamzee's hands clenched around his arms tighter.

Gamzee glowered down at the small human, the apologies ringing around in his head, those wide, pleading eyes again reminding him of Tavros. He scowled, feeling wetness on his fingertips, looking down and seeing red seeping out of the wounds his claws were making. _'RUSTY GUTTERBLOOD!'_ his brain screamed as he let go of one of John's shoulders, raising his hand to examine it.

Not as dark as Aradia's, but not as bright as Karkat's. Still Lowblooded. He lifted two of his fingers to his mouth, sucking on them. It almost tasted like unbaked sopor slime.

His think pan twitched, the instinctive addiction tugging at his senses, making him shove the other blood-smeared fingers into his mouth, letting out a guttural moan as the placebo effect took place. Definitely like unbaked sopor slime…

John paled when he saw Gamzee sucking the blood off his own fingers, praying something Karkat neglected to mention wasn't that trolls were fond of human flesh. Because that would SO not be cool. He made a move to split now that he had a shoulder free, but Gamzee snarled, pinning him back against the wall again.

"Your dirt blood is motherfuckin' gooooood," he growled, pressing closer to him. "Give me motherfuckin' MORE."

Vampire trolls in space. GOD, that would make a shitty movie.

John whimpered, shaking. "Please don't kill me," he squeaked, his eyes going wider. Gamzee snarled. MESSIAHS DAMN THOSE EYES LIKE TAVROS'S! He slammed John against the wall again, for no other reason than to let out his anger.

"THEN MOTHERFUCKIN' GIVE IT TO ME!" he roared, shaking the human by the shoulders. John was starting to get sore and lightheaded.

"OKAY!" he shouted. "STOP SHAKING ME, PLEASE! JUST CALM DOWN!" He needed to take his own advice; he was SO close to freaking clean the fuck out, wondering how the hell to give the troll blood without DYING. The thought made his legs turn to Jell-O, sinking down to the floor.

Gamzee knelt in front of him, growling louder, getting impatient. "Give me your motherfuckin' rank-shit blood before I crack your motherfuckin' skull open and GET ALL I MOTHERFUCKIN' WANT MYSELF!"

John yelped, reflexively holding his arm out, clenching his eyes shut and waiting for the worst.

Gamzee eyed the offered arm in front of him, noticing pale blue veins coming from the wrist and the crook. He frowned. Wasn't the human's blood red? He prodded at the veins with his claw, growling. Backwards-ass motherfucker. He dug his claw into the vein on the wrist, glowering when red blood welled up from the blue vein. "THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT!?" he shouted, making John jump.

"What? I didn't do anything—"

"Shut the motherfuck up." Gamzee didn't feel like making his think pan hurt any more than it already was, squeezing John's arm and licking at the blood that welled up, growling softly in the back of his throat.

John just sat there with his eyes clenched shut, chewing his lip, wondering just what god he had pissed off to warrant this kind of fuckery happening to him. His fingers twitched as Gamzee's tongue sloshed around on his sensitive wrist skin, shuddering when those sharp teeth scraped over his skin.

Gamzee growled when the blood stopped flowing. He wasn't NEARLY done enough! He pulled John's arm closer at a better angle, and bit down hard, his mouth flooding with blood.

John shrieked, his arm jerking hard but only making the pain worse when Gamzee's teeth stayed latched in. He bit down hard into his hood, shaking and trying not to scream when Gamzee started to suck on the bite wounds.

After a couple of minutes, the pain started to subside as he started to heal, letting out a shaky sigh and daring to peek his eyes open.

Gamzee was still licking at his arm, content purrs rumbling from his chest, feeling like the sharp edges that had been slicing at his brain were finally dulling out. He didn't even care that the blood had stopped flowing by this point. Dragging his tongue over the sharp-tasting small bite marks was soothing enough.

A few minutes later, Gamzee stopped licking, and that was two minutes after the wounds had healed. All John could do was just sit there and stare uncomfortably, wondering if it would be worth it to move to keep his arm from locking up the way it was bent. He was spared having to make that decision when Gamzee dropped his arm, staring at him lazily, and John could see his pupils were dilated, like was high.

"…motherfuckin' good, brother," Gamzee said, reaching over and papping John on the head. "Got the wicked stings outta my motherfuckin' think pan REAL good." He stood up and began swaggering down the hall, his purring still audible.

John remained sitting on the floor, staring at his arm which had translucent purple saliva stains on it. What the actual fuck had just happened?

"JOHN FUCKING EGBERT!"

John jumped, using his hood tail to wipe the saliva stains off his arm, finishing up with two seconds to spare before Karkat came skidding around the corner, looking livid.

"WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN!?" Karkat shouted. "AND WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU JUST SITTING ON THE FLOOR LIKE A RETARDED GRUB!?" He glowered as John gave him a shaky smile and stood up.

"…I got lost," John replied, reflexively shifting his affected arm slightly behind his back. "…So I figured I'd just stay put until someone found me. Kinda worked, didn't it?"

Karkat's eye twitched. "….I fucking hate you," he said. "Not in a million sweeps, eons after my screams have faded, could anyone comprehend the depths of which I absolutely loathe the air you breathe." He grabbed John's arm and stalked off, dragging John with him. "And NOW I have a half-hour's worth of shit to catch you up with, you dumbfuck! I hope you're FUCKING happy!"

John didn't even protest.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

John sat awkwardly in the room—'respiteblock', Karkat called it—that he had selected as his own for the interim, not really knowing what to do right now. Normally, he'd be flying around trying to meet everyone and work out a game plan….but Karkat's lecture—er, discussion—about what he had apparently missed left him with a few topics to mull over

The main topic being Gamzee Makara.

Karkat told John to run away from the sound of honking, run away if he smelled anything that smelled like blood, run away if he saw someone creeping around the shadows, and RUN THE FUCK AWAY IF HE EVER RAN INTO GAMZEE MAKARA. After getting a first-hand view of WHY he should—he almost lost his shit over the fridge of bodies—John felt like he had dodged a bullet with his name on it in neon lights.

He knew he should have told Karkat that he had run into Gamzee. He knew he should have pointed Karkat in the direction he saw Gamzee going in. But he DIDN'T. He didn't know why. It was…weird.

So here he was, hugging his knees on the bed he alchemized up, staring at the wall, wondering just what the hell he was supposed to do now.

Should he go looking for him? Yeah, THAT sounded smart, Egbert. Go looking for the psychopath who decapitates corpses and drinks your blood to get some sort of freaky alien fix. He sighed, flopping back on the bed. This was complicated.

 _ ***honk***_

John jerked upright, eyes widening. ….Did he just really hear that? Or was he just hallucinating under the stress? He listened out again.

Silence.

….great, now he was hallucinating out of paranoia. He sighed and slipped off the bed, peeking out the door before stepping out of the hallway and making his way to the kitchen—'nutritionblock' (Jeeze, why was everything a 'block'?)—to get something to eat.

The walk was uneventful and quiet, making John wonder where everyone was. Probably the rec room. Having fun. Without him. He scowled before looking up. Huh. Where did THAT attitude come from?

He slipped into the kitchen and poked around at everything, looking for the fridge, finding some weird alien equivalent that was more like a room-temperature walk-in with the food stored in slots of clear gel that was cold to the touch. It was easy to reach in and grab what he needed, and he was surprised to see there was plenty of human food here too. Must have been alchemized by Rose and Dave.

John paused for a moment before gathering up a bunch of things and carrying them out, rummaging around for a bowl and a mixing spoon. He was hungry, but he had a REAL hankering for some cookie dough.

Plus, he was like, 93% sure he wouldn't catch salmonella in God Tier.

He mixed up the dough and started looking around for something to put in it. Maybe some chocolate chips, or peanut butter cups. He went back into the walk-in, finding some M&Ms and headed out, almost dropping the bag when he saw Gamzee standing in the kitchen, staring at the bowl.

Gamzee had snuck in to see if there was more Faygo stashed somewhere, and had become distracted by the sweet-smelling stuff in the bowl. It was just SITTING there. And he knew Kanaya would never allow stuff to just be sitting out in the nutritionblock. He was still staring curiously when he heard someone squeak, jerking his head up.

Oh. It was Johnbro who was making stuff. He growled softly. "Hey, motherfucker," he said. "What you motherfuckin' got there?"

John swallowed hard, holding up the bag. "…M&Ms," he replied lamely. "…I was…gonna put them in the cookie dough." He flicked his eyes to the bowl on the counter. Gamzee glanced at the bowl.

"…the fuck are cookies?" he said, squinting at the bowl. He scooped some up on his finger, licking it.

….well there went John's appetite. He dropped the bag of M&Ms on the counter, thinking maybe an apple was more his speed right now as he turned back to the walk-in.

"Where the motherfuck are you going?!" Gamzee hissed, grabbing John and pulling him back over to the counter. John yelped as he was pinned back to the counter, Gamzee growling angrily over him. "I asked you a motherfuckin' question," he said, baring his teeth at John. "ANSWER THE MOTHERFUCKIN' QUESTION!"

What the hell was the question, John frantically thought before remembering. "…Cookies are a sweet," he stammered. "Like….a snack, or dessert….I was just making some cookie dough to eat!"

Gamzee looked over at the bowl again, scooping up another fingerfull and sticking it into his mouth. It was definitely doughy, but not unpleasantly so. It was also sweet, but not too sweet. He swallowed, contemplating the taste. He honestly preferred the human's blood.

Hm. The cookie dough was good. The human's blood was good.

"Put your motherfuckin' rank blood in the bowl."

John paled. "…w…what…?" he squeaked. Gamzee snarled, grabbing John's arms and squeezing hard.

"DID I MOTHERFUCKIN' STUTTER, MOTHERFUCKER!?" Gamzee snarled. "Put your motherfuckin' blood in the motherfuckin' bowl. Or do I have to help a motherfucker out?" He bared his teeth threateningly.

"NO!" John all but shouted, going even paler. "No…I'll…um…" Oh GOOOOOOOOD, what the hell was he DOING? He should be screaming bloody murder or something. But something told him this troll could have his throat torn out and brains all over the place before he could properly go on the defensive. He looked around, biting his lip hard as he found a cooking knife, his hand shaking as he picked it up.

Gamzee growled, keeping his eyes unblinking on John, ready and waiting to retaliate if the windy motherfucker got any brave ideas. John scooted back over to the cookie dough bowl and clenched the knife in his hand, bracing himself before pressing it to his arm. SHIT, it hurt! In all honestly, he maybe would have preferred Gamzee's teeth. His arm was shaking hard as it leaked out blood onto the ruined cookie dough.

 _'Just pretend it's red velvet, just pretend it's red velvet…'_ John was forcefully thinking to keep the bile down. He bled out for another minute before putting the knife down and holding his arm tightly, clenching his eyes shut as the sting slowly faded and the wound slowly closed.

Gamzee picked the bowl up and looked inside. Well enough. He stirred it with the spoon, watching the dough take on a dirty reddish color, absently realizing that he was salivating just looking at it. Done with the anticipation, he pulled the spoon from the bowl and stuck it into his mouth.

Mirthful Messiahs, he was right. The combination WAS perfect. A pleased growl rumbled in his throat as he licked the spoon clean, dipping it in for more.

John had gone an interesting green in the face, pressing a hand to his mouth. This was the sickest, wrongest thing he'd ever have to bear witness to, let alone be a part of. He felt his stomach flop, and quickly sat down, clenching his eyes shut to keep from puking all over the floor.

It took Gamzee not too long to clear the bowl out and lick it clean, sighing contently. He hadn't had a treat like that in a long time. He glanced over at John, who had regained some color back into his face, but was holding his arm and shaking. There were still red smears on that arm, and Gamzee wasn't about to let THAT go to waste.

John yelped when Gamzee grabbed his arm and yanked it over, hissing when Gamzee started licking the blood stains off of it. He prayed that Gamzee wouldn't bite down again, and heaved a sigh of relief when Gamzee let his arm go when it was clean, albeit smeared with light purple saliva.

"That was a good motherfuckin' treat, my windy motherfucker," Gamzee said, papping John's head. "I'm gonna want to be needin' more of that real motherfuckin' soon." He shoved John against the counter again, looming over him. "You're gonna motherfuckin' give it to me, RIGHT?"

John saw Gamzee's left hand twitch toward the blood-covered knife on the counter, and swallowed hard. "….yeah," he said, nodding. "…Yeah, I will…." He squeaked when Gamzee pressed closer, his mouth almost pressing against his ear.

"I know Karbro is spittin' motherfuckin' ignorant shit on me," he purred. "I aint gonna let the motherfucker ruin my motherfuckin' good time, y'hear? I AINT GONNA LET HIM."

John swallowed hard again, nodding, getting what Gamzee was vaguely saying. _Don't tell anyone._ He held his breath until Gamzee leaned back, staring down at him with a lazy, content look on his face.

"You're a good motherfucker," Gamzee said, papping John's head again before grabbing the knife and sticking it in his mouth, sucking on it as he strolled out, leaving John leaning back on the counter, wide-eyed and shaking.

John took a few minutes to get a grip on himself and push up from the counter and stumble out of the kitchen. He wasn't hungry at all anymore.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

John tried to stick with the group for the most part, just to feel some semblance of security, but even that had issues. Rose was always with Kanaya, Vriska and Terezi were their own little team where three would be a crowd, and Dave and Karkat seemed to be bonding with each other more than anyone else. It ended up leaving John the odd man out in almost everything.

Still, he stayed with at least one of the groups, even if he was ignored the entire time.

Today he was sitting in the library with Rose and Kanaya, stuck in his own little corner and sipping a coffee while they were on the opposite end of the room doing their own research and reading. He vaguely noticed that they were…um…VERY close. Almost blush-inducing. He even got the idea that they forgot he was there sometimes.

Turning around to face the back of the couch so he wouldn't give the impression that he was staring like a pervert, John closed his eyes, bored enough to take a short nap, feeling safe enough with them in the room.

He didn't know how long he slept, but he woke up to a dark room and no Rose or Kanaya to be seen. Ugh, great. They forgot about him. He sat up, rubbing his eyes, frowning when something didn't…seem right.

It took about a minute of post-sleep haze to realize his glasses were gone.

He swallowed hard, groping around on the couch and floor for them. He wasn't COMPLETELY blind without them, but his depth perception was shot to hell and everything lost their sharp edges. It was especially bad when it was dark.

Shit. He couldn't find them. He scowled, wondering if Vriska was fucking around with him, standing up and heading for the transportalizer slowly, using the windy-thing as a cushion for anything he might run into. He was almost to the door when he heard someone transportalize in. "….Vriska?" he called out timidly. "…If you took my glasses, I want them back! I need them to SEE."

Soft chuckling made his skin crawl in recognition, which only got worse when he caught the scent of unwashed clothes and the sickly-sweetness of breath.

"Hey there, motherfucker."

John yelped, jerking back and tripping over something on the floor, the wind—god, if he wasn't so freaked out he'd be creaming himself over the irony—being knocked out of him. He scooted back until his back hit the couch. "DON'T DO THAT!" he shouted. "I CANT SEE!"

His breath hitched as he heard Gamzee stroll up until he was standing over him, squinting up to try to get a basic shape to focus on.

"Did I get a motherfucker's scare on?" Gamzee commented, and John could HEAR the smirk in the tone. "My bad, windy motherfucker." He reached down and grabbed John by the front of his outfit, effortlessly pulling him up to eye-level. John swallowed hard, able to make out the faint glinting of fangs in the dim light.

"You've been motherfuckin' hard to get alone, Johnbro," Gamzee said. "Always hangin' around the other motherfuckers. Almost like you're motherfuckin' AVOIDIN' ME." He leaned in, and John could smell more of that sickly-sweet breath on his face. "But you wouldn't be doin' that to me, would ya?"

John went with the safest option and shook his head. "N…no…" he stammered. Gamzee snorted, dropping John back onto the couch.

"Motherfuckin' liar," he growled. "You think I'm motherfuckin' STUPID?" He pinned John back, flexing his claws into John's neck.

John whimpered, shaking hard, pushing on Gamzee's chest. "Stop it!" he gasped. "That HURTS—" He yelped when the claws sunk in deeper.

"It's SUPPOSED to motherfuckin' hurt," Gamzee hissed. "You said you'd motherfuckin' give me what I motherfuckin' wanted, WHENEVER I motherfuckin' wanted it. So I'm motherfuckin' GETTIN' IT." He pinned John down by the shoulders, lurching down and biting down into John's neck hard.

John shrieked, thrashing under Gamzee, his body seizing up when Gamzee bit down harder in a clear warning that if John didn't calm his shit right the fuck down, he'd tear his neck right the fuck out. John bit down on his lip, tears streaming down his face as Gamzee licked at the bite marks, only to bite down again when the wounds closed up.

God Tier or not, the repetitive biting and blood-letting was making John feel light-headed and shaky, having trouble moving his arms, let alone his body. He groaned, having trouble keeping consciousness. "…G….Gam…zee…." he rasped, tasting blood in his mouth. "….you're…..taking…too much…."

Gamzee glanced up, able to see perfectly in the dim light that Johnbro had gone really pale. He pressed his ear against John's chest and heard his blood pusher beating very faintly. Wouldn't do any motherfucking good to let him DIE now, would it?

John started taking deep breaths when Gamzee leaned up off of him. It helped with the lightheadedness, but the weakness didn't subside. He groaned, closing his eyes against his better judgement, dropping into unconsciousness.

Gamzee stared down at John for a few moments, watching the bite wounds on his neck close up. He poked at John's chest. No reaction. He stared, contemplating quietly for a moment before a blinking light on the transportalizer signaled it was about to be of use. Growling softly, he snatched John up and bolted into the air vent, slamming it shut behind him moments before Kanaya and Rose came in.

Rose turned on the lights and walked over to the bookshelf to get something, looking up when she heard Kanaya sniffing the air. "…Something wrong?" she asked.

"….No, not exactly," Kanaya replied, frowning. "…I…just keep thinking I smell blood." She looked at Rose. "…You're not on your—"

"NO!" Rose blushed, plucking the book she was looking for off the shelf. "…Not for another eight days, anyway." She paused, looking around. "…Wasn't John in here? I could have sworn he was—" She jumped when she heard a crunch under her foot, looking down.

John's glasses.

She knelt down, picking them up, seeing one lens was cracked and the other was shattered completely. "...These are John's," she told Kanaya. "He's practically blind without them."

Kanaya felt a dawning realization, looking around quickly and finding the source of the blood smell by the couch, looking down and seeing two drops of blood. "…We need to get back to the others," she told Rose, hurrying back to the transportalizer.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

It took almost no time at all to bring everyone into a meeting, though Karkat looked crankier than usual at having been woken up from sleeping.

"This had BETTER be fucking good," he growled, rubbing his eyes.

"It IS," Rose snapped at him, making everyone else jump a little at the venom in her voice. "Kanaya and I were in the library, and I found these on the floor." She held up the broken glasses. "They're John's, and he's practically blind without them."

"And I found drops of blood on the couch," Kanaya put in solemnly. "There was no trace of John anywhere…and I'm honestly thinking the worst."

"Gamzee," Karkat put in, scowling, but chewing his thumbclaw nervously. "FUCK!"

"…Was there any sign of a struggle?" Dave asked, scowling. Rose shook her head.

"No. The library was perfectly intact. Just his glasses on the floor and blood on the couch, and nowhere else. And even that was just a few drops," Kanaya answered.

"Who's to say the numbnuts didn't just bite his lip in his sleep and dropped his glasses sleepwalking?" Terezi said, shrugging. "Happened to me before. Only he can teleport."

"…You're saying you think John bit his lip until it bled, then started sleep-teleporting," Rose said, deadpan. "That's absolutely retarded."

"Not really," Vriska put in, examining her claws. "John sleepwalks when he's stressed out. Sometimes he tries to cook when he sleepwalks."

"…HOW do you know that?" Dave demanded. "…You know what, nevermind, I don't want to fucking know. Let's just search the kitchen and go from there."

"Dibs on NOT eating anything he's cooked up," Vriska commented, heading out with Terezi and Dave.

Karkat stayed behind, still chewing on his claw. "…Something doesn't fucking feel right," he muttered. "Especially not with the psychopathic chucklefuck roaming around." He looked over to Kanaya and Rose. "Stay armed at all times, and keep an ear out. Kanaya, hone in on ANY blood you smell, ANY at all."

Kanaya nodded, heading back to the library with Rose. Karkat slipped his sickles into his hands, heading off to search the labs.

* * *

John groaned, shifting around as he regained consciousness. His neck felt stiff and his mouth tasted like pennies. "…..ugh….." was all he could manage, the movement triggering a migraine. He rubbed his head, trying to remember what the hell happened—

HOLY SHIT, HE REMEMBERED.

He sat up quickly, his vision swimming from the sudden movement, looking around. Most of what he could see was dim and grey, with some color thrown around here and there. He was sitting on a pile of random-colored blankets and pillows and articles of clothing, surrounded by supplies of odd sorts. Mostly bottles of Faygo.

John reflexively groped around for his glasses, sighing when he couldn't find them. Great. He crawled out of the pile and started looking around, scaring himself at least twice by stepping on a horn. The room was metal like an air vent, and closed off on all sides, save for a small grated vent about the size of a cantaloupe. Much too small to crawl through. So how the hell—

The sound of metal clanking made him jump and turn around, just able to make out a trapdoor on the floor open up, immediately recognizing Gamzee by the mass of hair as he poked his head up.

"Oh, you're motherfuckin' up," Gamzee said conversationally, climbing up into the room and shutting the door, dropping a bag on the floor. "Motherfuckin' slept a WHILE." He walked over to John, grabbing his head and turning it, examining the neck area. It was completely healed up, but John still looked a little pale.

John started shaking in Gamzee's hold, but made no effort to move, hoping he wouldn't get his neck chomped on again. Thankfully, Gamzee let his head go and walked back over to the bag he dropped, bringing it back over and dropping it into John's hands.

"Got you some motherfuckin' food," he said, sitting back hard on the cloth pile. "Took a motherfuckin' while. Nosy shits were pokin' around the motherfuckin' kitchen." He grabbed a bottle of Faygo and started chugging.

John looked at the bag in his hands before rummaging around in it, finding an assortment of fruit, candy, juice boxes, and a loaf of bread. It would have to do, and he wasn't about to complain. He sat down, crunching on an apple to start with, his stomach gurgling in a 'hurry the fuck up' manner, mulling things over.

It was obvious he was being kept here…he deftly remembered his dad going over some things to do in case he was kidnapped. _Stay calm_ , that was one. Okay. Eat the apple, look casual. Calm it was. He was calm. What else?

 _Assess the level of danger._

Gamzee didn't really get violent unless John resisted…and he DID just bring him some food, knowing Faygo wasn't exactly a meal. He figured Gamzee was just keeping him here so he's always know where the blood supply was. So he didn't have to hunt him down.

So…on a scale of 1-10 in terms of danger….John would peg this as an easy 5. 7, if Gamzee got violent again.

 _Try to empathize with your kidnapper._

With WHAT? Small talk? John chanced a look over at Gamzee, seeing the troll relaxing back on the cloth pile, lazily sipping a Faygo and enjoying the silence. _'The silence, or the company?'_ John thought.

"….So…" he began awkwardly, seeing Gamzee look up. "…Is…this your…respiteblock?"

Gamzee snorted, tossing the empty bottle away. "Nah," he replied. "Motherfuckers be checkin' that place all the motherfuckin' time." He rapped his knuckles against the metal wall. "Extra motherfuckin' vent room I found. Not even in the motherfuckin' schematics for this place."

That didn't exactly make John feel all that better. He chewed on his apple thoughtfully, thinking of something else to talk about.

"…why are you hiding in here?" he finally asked. "…Why are you hiding at ALL? Aren't they your…friends?" He flinched when Gamzee started growling loudly.

"THEY AINT MY MOTHERFUCKIN' FRIENDS!" he shouted, slamming his fist into the wall, making John jump. "THEY AINT NOTHIN' BUT A BUNCH OF MOTHERFUCKIN' GUTTERBLOODED MOTHERFUCKERS! MOTHERFUCKIN' PEASANTBLOODS, AINT MOTHERFUCKIN' WORTH SHIT!" He broke off into intelligible growling and curses, and John curled up in the little corner, hoping he wouldn't be the next object of Gamzee's wrath.

John fished out a juice box and sipped it. Grape. Ugh, bad images… He yelped when the juice box was knocked out of his hand and he was pinned back against the wall, face-to-face with Gamzee. He realized with a cold shudder that Gamzee's yellow eyes were a dark orange now. Not good.

Gamzee glowered down at the human. Ignorant-ass motherfucker, bringing up the rest of the fuckall slurry of lowly plebeian blood that inhabited this Messiahs-forsaken hunk of rock. He'd have to schoolfeed the motherfucker on a few details. But first—

John yelped when Gamzee grabbed his shirt and tore it in half, pulling John to him and biting down hard on his neck. John yelped in pain, biting his lip hard in his attempt to keep from jerking around. SHIT, if Gamzee would just ASK, he would have given him an arm…! He let out a shuddery sigh, noting that at least Gamzee wasn't gnawing down this time, closing his eyes and trying to relax and let it be over with.

Gamzee noticed John wasn't struggling this time, and strove to bite down just hard enough to break the skin. Now that he had some of that blood in him, he was feeling more settled, and even a bit merciful. He purred, petting John on the head, grinning when he heard John squeak and then groan. Heh. Motherfucker acted like a troll being shooshpapped.

He shifted them both back to recline on the cloth pile, pulling John into his lap and sucking lazily on the bite marks, deftly recalling how good it felt to hold someone close to him again, even if it WAS a Lowblooded human. At least this body was warm.

Even after he was done with the blood, he still kept his face buried in John's neck, enjoying the scent of fresh air. THIS air, at least, didn't remind him of anything BAD. Just a pleasant freshness.

"….you need a bath," John said, not getting the same pleasantness as Gamzee. "No offense meant, but…seriously, you need a bath."

Gamzee frowned, plucking at his shirt with his clawtips. …..yeah, it WAS a little dirty…and he hadn't really had a bath in…..how long HAD it been?

"Right," he replied, standing and tossing John over his shoulder. "You're coming the motherfuck with me."

"What? Why?" John whined as Gamzee unlatched the trapdoor and climbed down a ladder into the main vents.

"In case the motherfuckers come pokin' around," Gamzee replied, scooting through the vents. "You be the motherfuckin' decoy."

John groaned, but just hung there. Great. Dad never mentioned THIS in 'What To Do In Case Of a Kidnapping 101'.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The bathroom wasn't very different than an Earth bathroom, save for the fact that the tubs were more like Jacuzzis and the showerheads looked more like vacuum tops, letting John get the idea that the water cascaded out instead of being sprayed. It also smelled odd; not BAD odd, but just odd. Kind of like metal and oil, even though there was none to be seen.

Gamzee sat him down and started to fill up one of the large tubs, leaving John some time to look around and gingerly peel off what remained of his God Tier shirt. It was really hot and humid in here, and he figured if he just let the shirt go, it would come back eventually.

Ugh, he really didn't like the heat. He wiped his bangs from his face, turning back to—HOLY FUCKING—

His face went red when he saw that in that short amount of time, Gamzee had stripped down and was making it known he was not self-conscious at all. John knew the trolls were aliens, but JEEZE, did the clothes hide a lot, like those weird dark grey markings under the ribcage, the odd bone structure on the chest, and oh fucking GOD, WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT THING AND WHY WAS IT MOVING!?

Gamzee looked over at John and followed the human's line of vision down to his bulge. What about it? Was Johnbro freaking out because it wasn't tucked away? Shit, he couldn't help it if it slipped out sometimes, it just DID. Maybe he was a prude about this shit like Karkat. He shrugged and slipped into the tub, sinking down to be at chin-level, enjoying the warmth of the water.

John just sort of stood there, his brain trying to process what the crap he just saw. It…it was PURPLE. And it MOVED. IT FUCKING MOVED. WHAT THE HELL KIND OF ALIEN WING-WONG MOVED—

He let out a shriek when Gamzee reached over, grabbed his ankle, and jerked him into the tub too. He flailed and jerked up to the surface, sputtering and groping around for something to brace onto, the water in his eyes blinding him even more than he already was. He finally caught a hold of something, bracing up and gasping for air.

John became aware of Gamzee's laughter, scowling. "It's not FUNNY!" he snapped, wiping his hair out of his face, and seeing he was inches away from Gamzee's face, his hand braced up on Gamzee's shoulder.

…..oh balls—

"Get a motherfuckin' sense of humor, Johnbro," Gamzee said, grinning. "…..also, could you move your motherfuckin' knee a little, it's pressing against my—"

John shrieked, flailing back into the water again, setting Gamzee off on another round of laughter. He came flailing up, glowering. "It's not FUNNY!" he shouted again, his face dark red. "And I don't know WHAT you're playing at, but I'm not gay!"

"…the motherfuck is 'gay'?" Gamzee asked, scratching at his head. John groaned, not believing he had to have this conversation AGAIN.

"It's when a guy likes another guy. I'm not attracted to GUYS. Wrong equipment."

Gamzee looked down into the tub at his own 'equipment'. "…There's wrong motherfuckin' equipment? Same shit, different troll, motherfucker. Still don't get it."

John stared. "…What do you MEAN, 'same shit'?" he demanded. "You don't mean to tell me girl trolls have…that." He made a weak gesture at the water.

"Yep. Nooks too."

"…the actual HELL is a NOOK?" He turned redder when Gamzee started to get up. "DON'T SHOW ME! GOD!" Gamzee snorted, getting up anyway.

"Motherfucker wants to know," he replied, shrugging, then lifting his leg out of the water to pin John back against the side of the tub with a foot to the chest to keep him from fleeing. "So motherfuckin' look."

John flailed against the side of the tub, dark red as he was more or less forced to get a good look at troll anatomy. He REALLY could have gone the rest of his life without knowing that trolls apparently had both. He REALLY REALLY could have. "OKAY OKAY, I'M LOOKING, I SAW, PLEASE GET YOUR CROTCH OUT OF MY LINE OF VIEW!" he shouted.

Gamzee snorted, sitting back into the water. "…So what's the motherfuckin' 'wrong' kind of 'equipment'? What ELSE do you motherfuckers have?"

"…I'm not having this conversation with you," John replied, rubbing his burning face. "This is TOTALLY not co—WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" He flailed again, smacking Gamzee's hands away when the troll had hooked a finger under the hem of his pants to pull them back to look inside. "UNCOOL, BRO, UNCOOL!"

Gamzee scowled, shoving John back against the side of the tub. "I believe the motherfuckin' terminology is, 'I showed you mine, so you show me yours', motherfucker," he growled, grabbing at John's pants and tugging hard enough to duck John underwater. He ignored the flailing as he hoisted John back up and out of the tub to look. "….oh. Ew."

John demonstrated his ability to blush all over as he shoved Gamzee away and grabbed his boxers, too humiliated to form a word, let alone a sentence, though he was certainly scream-thinking several things out of Gamzee's personal vocabulary. He jerked his boxers back on, getting full out of the tub, walking over to a bench, and sitting down, arms crossed and totally NOT pouting with embarrassment.

Gamzee stood there in the tub, scratching his head, his think pan sort of sloshing around with minute confusion. He'd never received the silent treatment before. The SCREAMING treatment, oh, fuck yes. But this was new. He sat back down in the water, staring at John, waiting for him to do something.

John continued to ignore Gamzee, his over-all blush slowly receding back to be concentrated into his cheeks. He didn't even care if he invoked to troll's wrath by this point. THAT was just horrible and humiliating. He'd let vampire space trolls suck his blood AAAAAAALL day long, but he'd be damned if he was going to compare alien junk with another dude.

…..god, he needed therapy.

He rubbed his eyes, which were starting to hurt from the strain it took to focus on ANYTHING. He could really use a nap, and the warmth of the bathroom wasn't helping him stay awake. He barely noticed Gamzee getting out of the bath and grabbing a couple of towels until one of the towels landed on his head.

Thankfully, Gamzee was dried off with a towel around his waist by the time John pulled the towel from his head. Gamzee was holding his dirty clothes plus John's God Tier pants, his face washed clean of the paint. "Time to motherfuckin' go, Johnbro," he said, leaving no room for ifs, ands, or buts.

John sighed, standing up, only to yelp when Gamzee threw him over his shoulder. "I can WALK—"

"I don't give a fuck," Gamzee replied, crawling up to the vent and pushing John into it, shutting and bolting the grate behind him.

* * *

It wasn't ten minutes later that Karkat walked into the bathroom, still armed with his scythes, frowning as soon as he walked in. It had been recently used, if the damp warmth was any indication. He clenched the scythes in his hands tighter and he edged around the corner, spotting something on the floor near one of the tubs.

Upon closer inspection, he found that it was John's God Tier shirt, torn down the middle.

He stared at the shirt for a good few moment before snatching it up and bolting right out of there.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

John was pretty sure he'd fallen asleep at some point BEFORE getting back to the vent-room, since he woke up on the cloth pile with no recollection of actually getting there. He sat up, rubbing his eyes, deftly noticing that his God Tier shirt had reformed on him. Well, that was good, he really didn't want to be up here shirtless.

He looked around, squinting. Apparently, God Tier didn't feel having his means of SEEING important enough to reform as well. Dick move, God Tier. Dick move. The room was empty, save for him, with Gamzee nowhere to be seen.

Jeeze, did the troll do nothing but skulk around the vents of this place like a creep? John sighed, slipping out of the cloth pile, groping around the floor for the trapdoor. No way in hell was he going to just sit and wait for Gamzee to come back, no matter WHAT he decided to do to him.

The trapdoor was a turn-latch that took some muscle to unlock, and John was pretty sure he'd have to put his whole weight behind it if he wasn't God Tier to open, pulling it open and listening out.

Silence.

He slowly groped around with his foot to find the ladder, slowly crawling down and shutting the trapdoor, locking it back before finishing his crawl to the bottom of the vent. Okay. Good. Hard part over. Now to just crawl around until he found something.

Much easier said than done. It was pitch-black in some of these parts, with only dim lighting from the rooms the vents were connected to giving him SOMETHING to go by. Twice he hit dead-ends and had to back-track and take a left or right, and once he almost fell down another vent shaft.

This whole system was total BS. How Gamzee managed to navigate like this was BEYOND him…

John took a breather by a grate, rubbing at his sore wrists from all the crawling, pausing when he heard voices. He crept closer, squinting out.

"—and found it just LYING on the floor!" It was Karkat.

"Just that? No blood, no other pieces of clothing?" Kanaya.

"NO! Just the stupid fucking shirt, torn down the middle!" Sounds of Karkat pacing around.

"To be honest, it sounds like we're just overreacting," Dave's voice spoke up. "I mean, I would totally not put it beyond John to have really bit his lip and drawn blood in his sleep. I mean, I KNOW you grind your teeth in YOUR sleep…"

"Not to mention with an overbite THAT big, it wouldn't be that hard," Vriska's mocking voice added in. John reflexively touched his mouth, feeling a slight sting from the barb. "So he draws some blood, sleep-walks out, manages to tear his stupid shirt, and takes a bath. So freaking what, it's not like we've seen much of him since he got here ANYWAY." Sounds of her flopping back on the couch. "If Windy-Boy is too good to hang around us, LET him wander around alone for all I care."

Annoyed 'tch' from Karkat. "Half tempted to let the stupid fuckass run into Gamzee, if he's gonna make us run around like this—"

John quickly scooted off down the vent, ignoring the warm wetness on his cheeks.

* * *

"Karkat!" Kanaya scolded, giving him a hard stare. Karkat flushed red around the cheeks, running a hand down his face.

"… I didn't mean it," he growled. "I'm just stressing the fuck out because of this." He sat back hard in a chair. Dave patted his shoulder.

"Just ease it up, Karkat," he replied. "Vriska's kind of right about one thing…we HAVENT seen much of him since he got here."

Rose sighed, blowing her bangs from her forehead. "…that's true," she concurred. "I mean…the last I saw him, he was in the library with me and Kanaya. He didn't say much, he just sort of…sat there. Like he didn't want to bother us."

Terezi twiddled with her cane, looking oddly thoughtful. "I could smell him sitting in the room with me and Vriska while we played a PC game," she said. "Didn't even offer to play. He was just…you know, THERE."

"…He kinda-sorta watched a movie with me and Karkat," Dave put in. "Didn't really join in while we were ripping on it."

Contemplative silence.

"….he doesn't fit in," Kanaya finally said, breaking the silence. "He's sort of the odd man out. And I'm supposing he got the idea he wasn't wanted after me and Rose forgot about him in the library."

Dave let out a soft 'goddamn it' as Karkat glowered and kicked at the floor, angry at himself.

* * *

John didn't know where he really was, and he didn't really care. He had his face buried in his knees, his arms hugging his legs tightly, his brain playing everyone's conversations on repeat, each time hurting more than the last. GOD, if this was what he knew was in store, he would've stayed with Jade instead. Now he was stuck here on this stupid flying rock with a bunch of people who didn't care he was here to begin with.

The knees of his pants began to get wet from his tears, and he didn't even hear Gamzee slip up and stare at him.

Gamzee stared at John, at first more than a little ticked the human had left the vent room, now looked on in confusion as John remained still against the vent wall, save for soft shaking of his back and shoulders. After watching for a few long moments, he reached out and poked John's shoulder.

John jerked his head up, his eyes red and wet from crying, barely managing to make out Gamzee's general outline. Gamzee, however, could perfectly see John's crying, and frowned. "The motherfuck's wrong with you?" he asked.

John shook his head, wiping his eyes. "N-nothing," he muttered. "It's fine—"

"It aint motherfuckin' fine if you're motherfuckin' leaking out the eyes," Gamzee cut in. "Who made you motherfuckin' cry?"

John remained quiet for a few moments before numbly recanting what he had heard the others say, not noticing Gamzee's expression getting darker as he spoke. "…so yeah," he finished, using his hood to wipe his eyes. "Just a big fucking joke. That's all I am to everyone." He hugged his legs tighter, not reacting when Gamzee reclined against the wall next to him.

"Heh…" Gamzee said, his voice taking the lower, angrier pitch that was deceptively calm. "…if you could hear the motherfuckin' wicked ignorance they spit about ME…I hear it all. They dont motherfuckin' know I hear 'em…so I hear it so motherfuckin' MUCH." He growled, the low rumbling almost echoing in the vents.

"I see the motherfuckers all happy 'n shit, fillin' up motherfuckin' QUADRANTS. QUADRANTS THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN MINE. They don't motherfuckin' mention me anymore. NOT UNLESS THEY'RE MOTHERFUCKIN' TEARING MY MOTHERFUCKIN' NAME TO PIECES."

He reached over, resting his hand on John's head, his clawtips flexing into John's scalp. "…They don't motherfuckin' care about us, brother," he said, feeling John flinch under his hand. "They're too motherfuckin' happy with their own motherfuckin' selves to give a motherfuckin' SHIT about us."

John burst into fresh tears, pressing his eyes into his knees until he saw lights. The hurt he was feeling was only magnified by Gamzee's words, but he couldn't find any fault in them. His shoulders shook violently as he struggled to control his sobbing, feeling Gamzee's hand pet his head, claws digging into his scalp.

John didn't react much when Gamzee pulled him flush against his chest and bit out a fresh mark, too emotionally numb to care. The feeling of having his head and back petted took away any lingering sting of the bite, and for once felt content to lean against Gamzee and let the troll take his blood.

Gamzee purred softly, the mind-numbing blood hardly holding a candle to having a soft, warm—willing—body against his own. He missed having someone to hug. Decapitated heads just didn't quite cut it.

He paused when he felt John stirring, only to feel arms curl around his torso and hug back. He blinked, taking a moment to process it before growling possessively and biting down harder, relishing in the high-pitched yelp John let out, but shooshpapping it down regardless. He kept his tight hold on John until he felt the arms around him go lax, leaning back to see if he had taken too much again.

No, John's face still had color to it. He had simply fallen asleep.

Gamzee kept his hold on John as he crawled through the vents to his vent-room.

The gutterbloods drove John away. John was all his now. And there was NO. MOTHERFUCKING. WAY. They would be taking him back.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Apparently, all it took for John to become a clingy cuddler was to have his heart and soul ripped violently from his chest and stomped on like defective grubs. Not that Gamzee minded at all, shit no. It felt nice, both having someone—alive—to hold, and for someone to empathize with.

It was pretty calming too, being the one doing the shooshpapping, rather than being on the receiving end. Almost as settling as the human's blood. He had been lying back on his cloth pile for a good few hours, too comfortable to consider getting up, and John apparently felt the same way.

Gamzee deftly petted John's head and back for a good while until he was thirsty, settling the sleeping human on the cloth pile before scooting over to grab another Faygo, tipping it back as he observed his companion.

Gog, how long had it been since he had someone like this? To just sit in silence with, someone to touch and get a reaction from? Shit, how long had it been since he had someone who empathized with him, felt the sting HE felt that others never thought to worry about?

He frowned, chugging the rest of the bottle, his insides feeling somewhat squirmy. It wouldn't do at ALL to get motherfucking Heart-eyed like this. But it sure as shit wasn't Diamonds either.

He tossed the empty bottle to the side, sitting down cross-legged in front of the cloth pile, staring unblinking at John, his nose twitching when he caught the scent of wet, damp, dreary air, like the miserable seasonal rains that never seemed to go away. Gamzee recalled feeling depressed in those days, even while high, remembering staring up at the clouds, feeling as though he'd never see the stars ever again.

That's what Johnbro looked like right now. A ball of depressed clouds.

And those gutterblooded motherfuckers did this. They took away the clear sky.

Gamzee growled, scooping John up and holding him tightly, papping his head, waking John up. "…H…hey…!" John shifted around, confused. "…what are you doing…?"

"Shut the motherfuck up," Gamzee replied gruffly. "Don't care none about them motherfuckers. Fuck 'em, brother. FUCK 'EM ALL! They aint worth shit." Harder paps and tighter hugs.

John blinked. Was this Gamzee's way of comforting him? It was a little rough, granted…but he guessed Gamzee didn't have much experience in comforting anyone, and just sighed, leaning his head on Gamzee's shoulder. Might as well make him feel like he was doing a good job.

"You don't motherfuckin' need 'em," Gamzee growled again. "You got this motherfucker right here, Johnbro. I'm all you motherfuckin' need. You're all I motherfuckin' need." John almost squeaked when he felt Gamzee's claws dig into his skin through his shirt. This was getting uncomfortable, to be honest…

John yelped when he found himself pinned back on the cloth pile, swallowing hard as he looked up at Gamzee looming over him. The troll's eyes were almost glowing in the dimness of the room, teeth slightly bared, growling loudly, and John figured it was time to offer up his blood again to calm down whatever fit Gamzee put himself into. He leaned his head back, bracing himself for the sting of fangs into his skin.

Gamzee instead stared down at him, growling louder at the plain display of submission John was showing. The internalized Highblood in him was more pleased than he could hope to describe, while the more lucid side deftly wondered if John even knew what he was offering like this.

Naturally, Highblood psychosis won out.

John yelped when instead of a bite down on the neck, he found yet another God Tier top being torn in half. "Gamzee…?" His inquiry was interrupted when Gamzee's sharp claws dug into his chest and dragged down, rending five lines down his chest, making him jerk around, keening in pain. "GAMZEE—"

A blood-smeared hand pressed against his mouth, Gamzee leaning in closer. "Shoosh," was all he said before leaning further down, dragging his tongue over the marks in John's chest. John twitched hard, letting out pained moans and squeals from behind Gamzee's hand.

Gamzee growled, tracing over the claw marks he left with his tongue, tasting in as much raw blood as he could before the wounds closed up. He was faintly aware of the shaking and shuddering of John's body, which only became more violent as the cuts vanished. Already he could feel the sharpness around his think pan dulling, and sighed, taking a breather before setting to the task of licking the remaining blood smears from John's skin.

The sharp twitch and muffled moan coming from John's mouth behind Gamzee's hand was entirely unexpected.

Gamzee paused, then looked upward at John, who was staring back down, face dark red. The motherfuck was THAT?

His nose twitched, smelling a distinct musky scent, almost like arousal—

 _Oh._

He arched a brow, watching John's face get redder, like the human was reading his mind and came to the same conclusion. Well. What to do with THIS situation then? The slight squirming in his pants gave him more than a few ideas to start with.

John shifted his face away from Gamzee's hand, his breathing uneven. "Gamzee—" he said, trying to keep the freak-outs to a minimum. "You….we have to st—" His eyes went wide when Gamzee reached down and gave him a firm squeeze through his pants. That did NOT help the situation, not at all.

Gamzee glanced downward at John's front. Yep. THAT had worked. Seemed to just be a firmer version of his bulge, was all. Nook or no, he could DEFINITELY make this work. He growled, squeezing John again, and proceeded to almost get bucked right off of him.

John was in literal hell right now. It was bad enough when he got aroused by Gamzee licking his chest, it was even WORSE that Gamzee was obviously exacerbating it. He whimpered, covering his face with his hands, wondering just exactly WHICH god he had offended for this to happen.

He felt Gamzee let him go for a moment, and paused, wondering if he had just lost interest. Having Gamzee then jerk his pants off in one quick motion tossed THAT idea out the window. John yelped, trying to backtrack but having nowhere else to go from here. "WHOA—GAMZEE, WHA—"

Gamzee pinned him back again, silencing John with a rough kiss that had fangs digging into his lip. John let out a high-pitched squeak, eyes wide as Gamzee's tongue slipped into his mouth and literally curled around his own. He flailed, whimpering loudly, only to be pinned back down again, Gamzee's body pushing flush against his own.

He squirmed around under Gamzee—trying to find some position that didn't have Gamzee in contact with worsening hard-on he was getting—almost jumping when he felt a vibration against his body. What the…it was Gamzee. Gamzee was purring so loudly John was feeling the vibrations all over, which did absolutely nothing to help his arousal.

John suddenly became lightheaded, only barely able to register that he suddenly smelled something heavy and musk-like that seemed to permeate his skin and brain, making him hypersensitive and shaky. He moaned into Gamzee's mouth, his hips twitching up, anxious for some friction, ANYTHING to help this torture along. What he got was the realization that something was MOVING.

Gamzee growled, feeling John responding under him in a most MIRACULOUS way that almost had him squirming right out of his own pants. He let go of John's wrists and sat up, purring as he stared down at the human under him. The sight of John flushed and panting was only exacerbating the Highblood mentality what was calling at him to TAKE THE LOWBLOOD, DOMINATE HIM, MAKE HIM YOURS.

Call received.

Gamzee wasted no time in jerking his own clothing off, his bulge squirming and curling, eager for a pailing. He took advantage of John's staring to shred the boxers off of John's body, growling when he saw the human's bulge. It looked bigger than the last time he'd seen it in the bathroom. Interesting.

Slightly LESS interesting when he paused to think of how this was going to work when John didn't have a nook. He glanced down at his own anatomy before mentally shrugging. Either way, good for him.

John was shaking hard by this point, trying to paint a mental picture of just HOW that huge purple thing was going to be used, but was broken out of his thoughts when he felt Gamzee jerk him up. He blinked, confused for a moment, before watching Gamzee recline back. "…what…?"

"You aint got a motherfuckin' nook," Gamzee growled out, the baritone sending shivers up John's spine. He parted his legs, his bulge curling upward, giving John a definite indication of what to do.

John's face went dark red. "Wha….uh….." he replied oh-so-intelligently, staring at the alien display between Gamzee's legs. Some wires must've been crossed up there in his brain because it just made his blood drain straight south despite how absolutely fucking weird it was just looking at it.

"Come the motherfuck ON!" Gamzee snapped, getting impatient. "Shove your bulge in my motherfuckin' nook before I motherfuckin' tear YOU one to use!"

John jumped, shakily scooting over to Gamzee, trying—and failing—to not look and see what exactly he was going to be shoving his dick into. This was some weird Lovecraftian shit the likes of which he would imagine Rose getting into, not HIM! He squeaked when Gamzee pulled him closer and growled loudly, baring sharp fangs at him. Clawed fingertips dug into his arms, all the sharp threats letting him know what may happen if he didn't get his shit in gear NOW.

Chewing his lip to bite back whimpering, John shakily groped around between them, shuddering hard when he felt Gamzee's bulge curl around his wrist. He honestly didn't know whether he was more grossed out, freaked out, or, oddly enough, even MORE turned on. A combination of all three—

 _Hoooooooooly SHIT._

Sometime during his internal debate, he had managed to find Gamzee's nook and push inside and GOD ALMIGHTY. Warm, wet, and TIGHT. It felt like it was MOVING inside too—HOLY SHIT IT WAS MOVING INSIDE. He almost panicked and pulled out, but Gamzee pulled him to him tightly and wrapped his arms around him firmly, that loud, vibrating purring making John's bones rattle almost soothingly.

It was all Gamzee could do not to tear John's skin to ribbons from the sheer frustration of having a bulge inside him and not having it move, but even in this state, he could sense panic rolling off of John like shockwaves, and between having a willing body to pail with and a dead one, he'd pick a living one. He held John to him tightly and growled softly, willing the human to calm the fuck down.

Oddly enough, it worked. John calmed down, and past the panic and freaked-out feelings, he felt GOOD. REALLY, REALLY good. He flushed hard and groaned, shuddering hard when he became aware enough that Gamzee's nook was flexing around him like an internal hand job, except with more warmth and wetness. He hissed into Gamzee's shoulder, bucking his hips when he felt a particularly strong squeeze. "FUCK—"

Gamzee flexed his claws into John's skin, growling loudly when he felt John buck. Troll coupling didn't involve much thrusting—the bulges took care of whatever movement that was necessary—and that was something that certainly made up for the human bulge's lack of movement. Hearing those explicatives coming from John's mouth was certainly a bonus.

"Come on, motherfucker," he purred, nipping John's ear, licking at the bead of blood that welled up. John shuddered and groaned loudly, bracing his hands on Gamzee's shoulders, rolling his hips again, panting softly.

Okay, fuck it, he took back everything he thought before. This was quite frankly the greatest sensation he had ever felt in his life, bar NONE. He didn't care his first time was with an alien, it didn't fucking MATTER. He bucked his hips faster, clenching his hands into Gamzee's shoulder harder, biting his lip until it was bleeding, letting out a sharp yelp when Gamzee's claws dug into his back.

Gamzee growled louder under John, his bulge thrashing between them, trying to find SOMETHING to do with itself, which was NOTHING compared to what John was doing to his nook. His anatomy wasn't built for THIS, and it felt like someone was roughly pushing his insides around. It was almost painful. And quite literally the only way he could ever contemplate doing this ever in the future.

John ignored the sting of claws in his back, groaning louder as he thrusted faster, shaking all over. His head was swimming, the vent room having gotten stiflingly hot for some reason. He whimpered when Gamzee pulled him down for another kiss, feeling fangs piercing his lips and tongue, and tasted his own blood.

Another hard clench around him had him jerking his hips hard, letting out a strangled yell as he came inside Gamzee, shaking hard and collapsing on him, panting.

Gamzee took a few moments to realize John had stopped moving, growling as he looked down, feeling something…off inside of his nook. Realization hit him. "Did you just use me as a motherfucking PAIL, you motherfucker?" he demanded, pushing John up to look at him.

John slowly came to his senses, looking downward and turning a dark red. "Oh shit—I'm so sorry, I—" He yelped when Gamzee shoved him off, deftly noticing that his spent member was covered in transparent purple wetness. Oh ew—

He didn't have time to properly gross out over it before Gamzee grabbed his hair and jerked his head up. "That all you motherfuckin' got?" Gamzee growled, having already known that pailing ended when the genetic fluid was spent, but not expecting John to be done so…SOON. Embarrassingly-so. Not to mention, he wasn't NEARLY done yet. And if Johnbro didn't have a nook to spare, he'd have to improvise. "We aint motherfuckin' done yet," he growled, his bulge curling against John's face.

John cringed away from it. "What the hell, Gamzee—" He yelped when Gamzee jerked on his hair tighter and used the distraction to shove the bulge tip into his mouth.

"You use me as a motherfuckin' pail, I use YOU as a motherfuckin' pail," Gamzee growled. "Fair's only fair, motherfucker."

John whimpered, clenching his eyes shut as he tried to keep from vomiting at the wet, slimy thing in his mouth. GOD, he didn't know! He couldn't help it! Gamzee's grip on his hair tightened, and to keep from having some of his scalp torn out, John started sucking.

To be perfectly fucking honest, he did NOT expect it to taste like unsweetened, almost sour grape juice. That helped, but only marginally. The fact that what he was sucking was also moving was still discerning, but he kept at it, not having a CLUE what he was supposed to really be doing. This could've been a human dick in his mouth and he wouldn't even know.

A breathy groan made him peek open his eyes and glance up at Gamzee. Did that sound come from HIM? The pushing on his head said yes, yes it did. He must be doing something right, then. He opened his mouth wider, sucking down on Gamzee harder, wincing when Gamzee pushed down on his head harder.

What a day to find out he had a dead gag reflex. It didn't make the motion any less uncomfortable as John kept sucking until his face ached, wondering how freaking long it took for trolls to orgasm.

Gamzee, tangled his fingers into John's hair, holding on tightly as he squirmed practically down the human's throat, groaning loudly when he felt the rhythmic sucking and swallowing that followed. Even the slight scraping of teeth against his bulge was incredible. He bucked his hips, shuddering hard, feeling a pressure build up, growling loudly.

John sucked on Gamzee harder, if anything to help this go by faster, pausing when he felt the bulge go slightly rigid and…oh god, was it getting bigger? What was—

That was answered for him when Gamzee pulled his head forward until his nose was touching Gamzee's skin, his eyes going wide as what could only be described as GUSHING took place down his throat, and SHITFUCK, there was a LOT of it.

Gamzee kept John's head in place as he gushed copious amounts of genetic fluid down John's throat, feeling more of it drip out of his own nook. His clawtips were drawing blood from John's scalp, but he couldn't be assed to care. He slowly finished up, only then becoming aware of John's flailing and tugging to get loose. Oh, right. Motherfucker probably had to breathe.

He pulled back, his spent bulge slithering back into its sheath as John collapsed on all fours to the floor, coughing and retching, spewing out a mouthful of purple fluid before coughing some more. It was kinda gross…but seeing the human act as his pail was so lewdly erotic…

John finally caught his breath, taking deep gulps of air to make sure nothing else was coming up. HOW did someone produce so MUCH of…WHATEVER it was? He grimaced at the fluid he had spewed up, noticing it too was purple. So freaking gross…!

He yelped when Gamzee grabbed him up and flopped back on the cloth pile, laying there blinking on Gamzee's chest, feeling the troll curl up around him and pet at his head and back like he was a spoiled cat. Words failed him. COMPREHENSION was failing him. What the hell was he supposed to say now? DO now? What did this MEAN?!

"…Gamzee…"

"Shoosh." Gamzee's hand papped at his head again.

Yeah. Okay. That…sounded like a plan right now.

John closed his eyes, sighing heavily.

He'd deal with it when he woke up.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

John groaned, shifting around as he woke up, sort of feeling like waking up on a mid-December morning, which is to say, too comfortable and warm to want to get up. But his stomach was growling, and he needed food, like NOW. He sat up, yawning noting that his God Tier outfit was back on.

His glasses were still gone. He really needed to look into finding those things at some point.

He made a move to get up, but found himself held in place by a grey arm around his middle. He followed the line of the arm, seeing the rest of Gamzee was buried under a pile of the cloth, presumably in the same state of comfort John had been.

Huh. Kinda cute.

 _Tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock—_

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUCK.

John sat there, his jaw lax as he suddenly remembered what had happened. Had he been able to see, he would have been quite impressed at how quickly his face could turn red. He buried his face in his hands, shaking hard.

He had sex with Gamzee.

He had weird alien sex with Gamzee.

He had weird, freaky, alien sex with GAMZEE.

….and he had LIKED it.

Was there even a TERM for someone who thought they were heterosexual but became incredibly turned on by freaky alien juggalo hermaphrodites? If not, he should make one up.

While he was in a state of inner sexuality-searching, Gamzee emerged from his cloth cocoon, blinking tiredly. He scratched his mess of a hair, looking over at John, who was shaking with his hands covering his face. He frowned. Was Johnbro sad again? He reached over, papping John's head, smiling when he heard the human squeak and jump.

"Hey, Johnbro," he said, almost startling John with his soft, calm tone. "You aint motherfuckin' sad again, are you?"

John blinked, not expecting the calm, concerned tone. "Uh…n…no," he stammered, folding his hands in his lap. "Just….I…don't know what to think of…what happened." His face went red again.

Gamzee blinked slowly, scratching his head again. "…We pailed," he replied matter-of-factly. "I thought it felt motherfuckin' good. 'S all I think about it."

John swallowed hard, chewing his lip. "Doesn't it…..well….MEAN anything?" he asked delicately. "I mean…the Quadrants…er…." GOD, he sounded like such a stupid ass, mentioning shit he hardly knew about. "…Did that…fall under any of those…?"

Gamzee stared at John, his think pan sloshing around some thoughts. What EVEN was it? Couldn't be matespritship…..or kismesissitude, for that matter. Pretty sure most moirails didn't do this either, but it was honestly the closest he could come up with, even if it didn't really fit what had happened.

"…No motherfuckin' idea," Gamzee finally said, nodding and petting John's head. "Just motherfuckin' is. Aint it good enough like that?"

John blushed, rubbing his face, thinking. It sort of WAS 'just was'. Kind of like 'friends with benefits'. Close-enough analogy. He sighed, rubbing his eyes. "…You're right," he said. "It just…is."

Gamzee beamed, papping John's head again before slipping out of the cloth pile, picking around for his clothes. John blushed and scooted over to find something to eat, frowning when he saw all the rations gone, even the Faygo.

"We're out of food," he announced, his stomach growling again. Gamzee tugged on his pants, scratching at his own abdomen.

"Gonna have to make another motherfuckin' food run," he replied, grabbing a shirt and heading for the trapdoor. John nibbled his lip scooting over.

"I want to come too."

Gamzee's eyes flashed with instinctive possessiveness, but he quelled it down, seeing John's eager face. "Sure thing, motherfucker," he replied, opening the hatch effortlessly and slipping down.

John followed, closing the hatch behind him, keeping close to Gamzee to keep from getting lost again. It was difficult, since Gamzee crawled through these vents like he was born in them, hardly seeming to crawl at all. More than once, John had to beg him to slow down, since it was bad enough he couldn't see properly. Luckily, Gamzee was happy to oblige, in no hurry at all to make it to the kitchen.

John sighed when Gamzee finally stopped in front of a grate, and John's stomach growled loudly when he could smell someone cooking. Great, if he wasn't hungry BEFORE, it was the smell of food he couldn't HAVE that was driving him nuts. "Dammit," he muttered, hugging his knees.

Gamzee growled, staring unblinkingly through the grate. "It's the motherfuckin' blasphemer," he all but snarled.

"…who?" John asked, squinting as he peeked through, seeing a blob of red. "Oh…it's Dave." He frowned, sitting back. Gamzee growled again, tugging on John's sleeve.

"Let's go," he said gruffly. "Motherfucker aint worth waitin' around for. I know where Vriska keeps her motherfuckin' stash." He crawled on. John stared at the red blob for a moment longer before following.

* * *

Karkat walked into the kitchen, his nose twitching when he smelled what Dave was cooking. "What the fuck is that?" he asked. Dave shrugged a little, stirring.

"Taco meat," he replied quietly. "Felt like Mexican tonight." He added another sprinkle of red powder to the mix, making Karkat step back before he sneezed.

"Why the fuck does it smell like a stab up the nose?" he demanded. Dave shrugged again.

"It's supposed to have a kick to it," he replied, his voice still subdued. "It's…" he trailed off, stirring again. Karkat frowned.

"…it's what?" he asked. No answer. "…Dave?"

"It's how John likes it," Dave finally said, putting the spoon down hard, his jaw tight. "Shit, I'm from Texas, but North-As-You-Can-Get Egbert can take the spicy shit I cant. Like some freak of fucking nature." He rubbed his arm, his jaw twitching slightly. "…I just…thought if he could smell it…"

Karkat swallowed, suddenly feeling pretty awkward and uncomfortable. He'd been having some Pale feelings for Dave, but now sort of felt like a third wheel. "…is…John your…moirail, or—"

"No," Dave said quickly. "No. He's…just a really good friend, and I feel like a total cock-up for not making him feel like it." He ran a hand through his hair, sighing. "I'm complete shit at reading people, in case you haven't noticed."

Karkat chewed his lip for a moment before reaching out and patting Dave's shoulder. "…You're fine," he said, his cheeks taking on a reddish tinge. "…I'll…taste your hellspawn 'taco meat'."

Dave rubbed at his face for a moment before picking the spoon back up. "…Thanks," he said, a hint of a smile on his face.

* * *

John felt like he had been crawling forever before Gamzee came to a halt outside a grate, almost going face-first into the troll's backside. "…are we here?" he asked.

Gamzee nodded, carefully unscrewing a few bolts from the grate and setting them aside before pushing the grate open slowly, looking around to make sure the coast was clear. He slipped into the respiteblock, keeping an ear out as John edged out and looked around best he could.

It was pretty dark inside, but all the black décor wasn't helping that much anyway. He just eased his way in, trying not to bump into anything as Gamzee scooted over to a panel in the wall and started to take stuff out. In the corner, he saw a fridge, figuring it had some drinks inside. He walked over to it, not really recognizing it without his glasses and pulled it open.

What fell out were not drinks. Not by a LONG shot.

He looked down.

And someone's head stared back up.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Gamzee nearly jumped a mile when he heard John let out a strangled scream and fall back, whipping around and preparing to tear someone's head off.

….only to find he had already done so to what had scared John.

John was staring at the head on the floor, shaking hard. He had already been shown this fridge by Karkat, but it had just been a split-second of looking just to let Karkat know he understood what he had been talking about. But NOW he was staring at a fridge crammed with five bodies, cut to pieces, with the decapitated heads crammed within the disgusting mess. Save for the one on the floor.

The most distinguishable feature on this head were the enormous horns, and John deftly wondered how it had been able to fit. He was brought out of his musings when he felt Gamzee step up behind him and stare down too, suddenly remembering WHY Karkat had shown him the fridge.

These body parts were in here because Gamzee had killed about half and hoarded them off.

"G…Gamzee…" he stammered, unable to look away from the head. Gamzee didn't answer. "Gamzee….you….we…have to leave….p…put it back and…" He felt a sharp spike of nausea as the smell finally hit him. It wasn't full-on rot, but cut open a fresh body and the overly-bloody scent still hits you hard.

Gamzee silently walked over to the head on the floor and picked it up, then walked over to the fridge and calmly closed it. Then, to John's shock, he picked the whole damn thing up, walked over to Vriska's door, and kicked it right open, walking out.

John sat on the floor for a few moments more before scrambling up and running after him, managing to see him take a transportalizer and vanish, rushing to it and transportalizing after, moments before people came running around the corner, having heard the crashing.

"WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK!?" Vriska shouted, running to her respiteblock and seeing the door crashed right out. She hurried in, freezing when she saw that the fridge was missing, and the vent to her room was wide open.

Terezi was on her heels, cringing at the smell of corpses. "What the hell happened?" she said, poking around.

Vriska stared between where the fridge used to be and the vent. "…Crazy chucklefuck took the fucking bodies!" she said. She raced outside, looking around and spotting the transportalizer, rushing to it and stepping on it. Nothing happened. She looked down and saw that the light was turned off. It was disabled. "FUCK!"

* * *

John had just managed to jump out of the way once he transportalized after Gamzee, BARELY managing to avoid getting crushed by the Warhammer of Zillyhoo, which shattered the transportalizer pad to pieces. "WHOA—GAMZEE! WHAT THE FU—" He had to duck to avoid shrapnel from Gamzee hitting the transportalizer again, and again until it was beyond repair. He peeked up, seeing Gamzee breathing heavily and clenching the Hammer so tightly he could hear knuckles cracking.

Gamzee's hands were shaking as he breathed, a restrained, rasping mess that almost sounded pained. John swallowed hard, remaining on the floor, watching carefully for any sign that he should make like the wind and blow this place.

At long last, Gamzee lowered the Hammer and let it drop into his syllabus, turning to the fridge and picked the head that was on top up, holding it in his hands quietly, making loud, fierce growling sounds.

John swallowed hard, slowly easing his way over. Gamzee didn't seem to notice him until he got close, then John found dark orange eyes trained on him.

"Tell me," John said quickly, shakily pointing to the fridge. "…Tell me about this…not…not what other people told me….you tell me about this…I…I want to know." He strained to keep his eyes focused on Gamzee's, whose own eyes slowly faded from dark orange to yellow.

Finally, Gamzee's posture relaxed, though his hold on the head in his hands remained firm.

"…Motherfuckers never liked me," he murmured, his voice soft, but with a heavy grit to it. John chewed his lip, bringing up his knees and hugging them tightly to listen. Gamzee reached over and opened the fridge, staring at the mess inside.

"…Always…motherfuckin' sayin' what a disgrace I was…." He reached in, grabbing hold of a chunk of hair, lifting out a head that had a bluish tinge to it. John forced himself to look, his hands clenching into his legs tightly.

"This motherfucker right here…always motherfuckin' BEGGIN' me to command him…heh….indigo-blooded motherfuckers…always wanna be motherfuckin' COMMANDED…always wanted me to get him the motherfuck off with COMMANDS. To motherfuckin' TAKE MY PLACE IN THE MOTHERFUCKIN' HEMOSPECTRUM!" He dropped the head back into the fridge. "…the one motherfuckin' command I give him, an' he decides to not do it. I finally do what he motherfuckin' wants…an' he just motherfuckin' shits all over it."

Gamzee's teeth were bared and clenched. "Motherfuckin' HYPOCRITE. Callin' me DISGRACEFUL an' VULGAR an' VILE all that motherfuckin' time…HATED that indigo-blooded MOTHERFUCKER."

He reached back into the fridge and pulled out another head, this one with a dark green tinge. "…Maybe she aint deserved to motherfuckin' die. Always so motherfuckin' nice to everyone. But little kittybitch attacked a motherfuckin' Highblood pulsatin' from a motherfuckin' KILL. The motherfuck did she EXPECT? Still. I made it real motherfuckin' quick-like. One hit. She's gone."

He put the head back, tugging out two more, one with violet and the other with fuchsia. "More motherfuckin' Highbloods. Sea-Dwellers. Didn't like me much, neither motherfucker. Sea-Dwellers don't like me motherfuckin' much. I didn't kill 'em, though….would've, probably. Especially motherfuckin' Ampora." He sneered. "Motherfucker killed my motherfuckin' lusus." He tossed the heads back into the fridge.

John swallowed hard, eyeing the head in Gamzee's lap. "…And…that one?" he asked delicately, gesturing softly. "Did you…?"

"No." Gamzee's voice was firm, but almost mournful. "…No Tavros….not…my motherfuckin' Tavros…." He turned the head in his hands until he was face-to-face with it. "…Never motherfuckin' Tavros…" He leaned his forehead against the head's.

"…I…I found him…" His breath hitched, transparent purple tears dripping down his face. "…I found him…I motherfuckin' FOUND HIM!" He gnashed his teeth, his hands shaking. "THE MOTHERFUCKIN' SPIDER BITCH KILLED MY TAVROS! AND NOBODY MOTHERFUCKIN' CARED!" He hugged the head to his chest tightly, rocking back and forth slightly.

"I…I kill…and…I'm a monster…I'm a motherfuckin' MONSTER…..the MOTHERFUCKIN' SPIDER BITCH KILLS MY TAVROS….and nobody….motherfuckin'….cares…." A high, pained noise almost struck John in the heart left his throat.

John sat there quietly, trying to swallow a lump in his throat, feeling absolutely terrible. "…I'm…so sorry…" he whispered so softly he barely even heard himself. Gamzee's shoulders shook and John could hear choked sobs. Sobs that then started to sound like choking laughter until John was sure of it. Gamzee was LAUGHING. "…Gamzee…?"

"I heard the motherfuckin' voices," Gamzee said, his voice grating and terrible. "I heard them. Tellin' me to motherfuckin' kill. But I didn't listen. _'They're my motherfuckin' friends!'_ I told 'em! I aint gonna kill my MOTHERFUCKIN' FRIENDS!" He lifted his head, grinning to show off all of his teeth, his pupils almost slitting.

"Then…I saw what the motherfuckin' spider bitch DID TO MY MOTHERFUCKIN' TAVROS! I ALWAYS HATED THAT MOTHERFUCKIN' BITCH! SHE MOTHERFUCKIN' HURT MY TAVROS! SHE MOTHERFUCKIN' KILLED MY TAVROS!"

He jumped up, startling John, and began spinning around, holding Tavros' head out almost gleefully.

"THAT'S WHY THE MOTHERFUCKIN' VOICES TOLD ME TO KILL ALL THOSE MOTHERFUCKERS! OH, TAVROS, MY MOTHERFUCKIN' MATESPIT-TO-BE, IF ONLY THIS MOTHERFUCKER HAD LISTENED TO THEM! THEN IT COULD HAVE JUST BEEN MOTHERFUCKIN' US! MATESPRITS FOREVER!" He stopped spinning, still grinning but crying heavily again. "They wont motherfuckin' get away with it, Tavros. I swear, I'll motherfuckin' make her pay. And I'll motherfuckin' KILL anyone who stands with her."

He pulled Tavros' head to him, kissing him hard, purring loudly.

John stared, feeling all the blood drain out of his face, shaking hard. Oh dear fucking GOD…he had known Highblood psychosis was a thing, but THIS… He buried his face in his knees, trying to swallow back the bile in his throat.

Through the psychotic mess, the worst part was, John felt that Gamzee had a POINT. THAT was the scariest part. From what he knew so far, he couldn't believe that the others would let Gamzee get like this. He especially couldn't believe they let Vriska get away with killing perhaps the only person in this place that could have prevented at least two of these deaths. THAT THEY LET VRISKA GET AWAY WITH KILLING ANYONE AT ALL.

John suddenly felt sick to his stomach that he ever let Vriska take charge of any decision in his life. Ascending to God Tier or not, what prices came with what GOT him there?

He jerked up, scrambling to a corner of the room, bracing himself up on the wall as he vomited out what little he had in his stomach to the floor, the mess as technicolor as the fridge behind him. He could feel tears streaming down his face, but he didn't know if they were of sadness, fear, or disgust. A mix of all three, perhaps.

He stiffened, feeling Gamzee's presence mere inches behind him, and shakily turned to look up at him.

Gamzee stared down at him with yellow-orange eyes, smears of brownish blood around his face. "…You gonna motherfuckin' leave, John?" he asked, his voice deceptively calm. "Gonna run back to the motherfuckers upstairs? AM I A MOTHERFUCKIN' MONSTER, JOHN!? WELL!? AM I!?"

John stared at Gamzee, tears still running down his face. He remained motionless for a few long, agonizing moments before turning around fully and reaching out, curling his arms around Gamzee and hugging him tightly. He felt Gamzee's body jerk and stiffen like a startled cat ready to strike, but only held on tighter.

"…You ARE a monster," he said softly, his voice shaking. "…but they MADE you this way….and….I'm so…SO…SORRY for that…" He buried his face in Gamzee's chest, crying harder.

Gamzee's body slowly relaxed, his eyes going back to yellow. He stared blankly at nothing, his think pan sorting out what John said and was doing. He was a monster. He was a monster. HE WAS A MOTHERFUCKING MONSTER.

It wasn't his fault. It wasn't his fault. It wasn't his fault. THEY MADE HIM THIS WAY.

' _I'm so sorry.'_

' _I'm so sorry.'_

' _I'm so sorry.'_

' _I'm so sorry.'_

Gamzee felt hot tears streaming down his face. At last…a motherfucker was sorry for him being a monster…and it wasn't even a motherfucker that MADE him like this.

He raised his arms, putting them around the shaking body that was holding him, burying his face in the blue hood just under his chin. "…I'm not…motherfuckin' sorry for doin' any of it…" he growled softly. He felt the arms around him tighten.

"I know," was all John said.

Just like that. No need for explanation. No lecture on how he SHOULD be sorry.

Gamzee hugged him tighter, clenching his eyes shut. He missed his Tavros so motherfucking much. But this worked fine for now.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

John didn't know how long he hugged Gamzee for, and he didn't really care. He had a feeling Gamzee was long overdue for one, and he wasn't going to be the first to break it.

Everything about this was so fucked up. From the bodies to how they got there to the circumstances surrounding it all. And yet the only monster he had been warned about was Gamzee. What about Vriska, who not only was responsible for creating Bec Noir just for killing-rights, but for killing someone Gamzee would have had as a matesprit? What about Karkat, who was supposed to be Gamzee's 'best friend'? Why just Gamzee?

John petted Gamzee's back quietly, sighing softly. What Gamzee really needed now was someone to help keep him calm, to stand up for him. And if no one else was going to do it, he would. He didn't care if it took buckets of blood to do.

Oh, ugh. Bad double-entendre image. He forever cursed the day he found out what a bucket was for in Trollian society.

He looked up when he felt Gamzee's arms slip from him. "…Hey," he said. "You okay?"

Gamzee didn't answer, instead turning around and picking Tavros' head up and staring at it for a moment before putting it back into the fridge, closing it tightly. "…don't want those motherfuckers to touch 'em," he said gruffly, pushing the fridge into a corner. He looked over at John before pointing to a vent grate that was high above the ground.

John understood; Gamzee HAD destroyed the transportalizer into this place. He levitated up to the grate and jerked it open, turning back to Gamzee, holding out his hand. Gamzee walked over and took John's hand, allowing himself to be lifted up by John's wind powers, crawling into the vent.

John, pulled the grate back in place, looking in the direction of the fridge again before following Gamzee away from that hidden room.

* * *

"TOO FUCKING FAR!" Karkat was pacing around the room, gesturing wildly 'like an Italian', whatever the FUCK that was, Dave. "THAT CHUCKLEFUCK HAS GONE TOO FUCKING FAR!"

"We already fucking KNOW that, Karkat!" Vriska snapped, honestly more disturbed that Gamzee had been in her respiteblock than him having taken the fridge of bodies. "And wherever the fuck he took them, he disabled the transportalizer, so we'll never fucking KNOW."

Dave sat quietly in the chair, looking tense and almost scared, glad he was wearing his shades. "…we have to find John," he said, his voice soft but firm enough for everyone to look over at him. "I don't give a fuck about WHY he's gone, I just WANT HIM FOUND."

"Look, if he doesn't WANT to be found—"

"DOES IT LOOK. LIKE I GIVE A FUCK. ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT HE WANTS TO BE FOUND!?" Dave shouted at Vriska, whipping off his shades, his red eyes blazing. "I DON'T CARE IF WE HAVE TO CRAWL THROUGH THE FUCKING VENTS LIKE THE ASSCLOWN DOES! I WANT TO FIND JOHN AND MAKE SURE HE'S ALRIGHT!" He threw his shades back on, his hand clenching around the hilt of his sword. "Or does Madame Boss-Lady have a fucking PROBLEM with that?!"

"DON'T answer that, Vriska," Kanaya said, standing. "In any case, Dave is correct. We need to find John. Provided he…hasn't run into tragedy himself." She gave Dave an apologetic look, letting him know it HAD to be a possibility.

Dave scowled, flexing his hands. "Right. Fine," he bit out. "I…just want to fucking FIND him."

"We ALL do, Dave," Rose said, squeezing his shoulder comfortingly. "And we WILL. In one way or the other. If…anything DID happen, we'll make sure it's taken care of."

"IF anything DID happen, the idiot will just revive," Vriska said, crossing her arms and ignoring the glares sent her way. "He's GOD TIER, people. I'm pretty sure getting his brains bashed in doesn't count for Heroic or Just."

Karkat physically restrained Dave from doing some brain-bashing of his own, glowering. "KINDA not the fucking POINT, Vriska!" he hissed. He reflexively started papping at Dave's head, kind of surprised when it actually made Dave stop struggling and settle down.

"…So who actually WANTS to go into the vents?" Terezi said, looking around.

Naturally, there were no takers.

"Shit," Karkat grumbled. "We need a fucking plan."

* * *

John's hands and knees were nearly numb by the time they made it back to the livable levels. They stopped by the kitchens again, finding it empty at last. John stayed in place in the vents as Gamzee hopped out of the grate and started grabbing things, throwing them into a bag. He opened the walk-in to grab more stuff, looking up with a start when Kanaya walked in.

Kanaya froze when she saw Gamzee, having not expected THIS when she came in to get more coffee packs. On reflex, she rushed him and kicked him back into the walk in before slamming it shut and locking it, backing up when she could hear muffled howls of rage and banging on the door. The walk-in was very sturdy, but she honestly didn't know if it would hold Gamzee for long while she ran for help.

John scurried over to the grate when he heard the initial commotion, looking though in time to see Kanaya slam and lock the walk-in, hearing Gamzee screaming even from where he was. Red entered his vision, and he didn't even take into consideration of Kanaya's fearful look, only feeling a surge of rage at seeing Gamzee being treated like that.

In a burst of wind, John flew out of the vent, his Warhammer forming in his hands as he cold-cocked Kanaya away from the walk-in door and into the counter.

Kanaya only felt a burst of wind before what felt like a stampeding hoofbeast slam into her and knock her back into the counter with enough force to crack and dent where she landed. The initial shock all but paralyzed her nerves for a few moments before she looked up, her eyes widening when she saw John standing over her with the Warhammer in his hands, glowering down at her with enough malice to set her on fire, a wind as hot as a desert high morning kicking up around him.

"John—!"

She was silenced by the Hammer coming down on her hard.

Gamzee was still howling and pounding on the door, ramming into it with his shoulder in an attempt to break it down, to little avail. He backed up, snarling as he prepared for another go at it when he heard the lock bolt snap open, pausing as the door creaked open.

The first thing that hit him was the smell of freshly-shed blood. Then the he saw a splash of jade blood staining the front of John's blue God Tier shirt. The sight made him just stare at the stain, his eyes trailing higher, seeing that John's face was also splattered with blood.

The God Tier was holding a bloody Warhammer in his right hand, the left one reaching out to Gamzee. Gamzee quietly took the hand and walked out of the walk-in, glancing over at the counter.

Kanaya was crumpled on the floor, her blood splattered everywhere from the blow she took. He didn't bother going in for a closer look, instead grabbing his bag of food and heading back to the vents, hopping up into it first and keeping the grate open for John to fly up into, after the human displaced the Warhammer.

They made their way back to the vent room in silence, Gamzee putting the bag down and staring at John, who did nothing to go through it. John just sat back against the wall, staring blankly at his blood-splattered hands and outfit. As what happened began to form comprehension in his brain, his hands began shaking, his breathing becoming erratic.

Gamzee reached over, grabbing John's hands and holding them firmly, which eased John's breathing somewhat. John swallowed hard, biting his lip. "I…killed her…" he whimpered.

"Maybe," Gamzee replied carelessly, then with more care, asked, "Why?"

John took a shaky breath, his cheeks going slightly pink, his hands flexing. "…she…locked you in the walk-in," he said quietly, his voice shaking. "I…didn't like it." Shit, that sounded lamer than anything…

Gamzee's hands clenched around John's tightly. "You smashed the motherfucker for ME," he said, making it sound more like a statement than a question he was really thinking. He saw John's face turn pinker.

"…Yes."

John nearly squeaked when Gamzee growled and pinned him back against the wall, not having time to think of why before Gamzee's lips pressed against his, fangs digging into his lip and drawing blood.

Gamzee licked the drip of blood off John's lip before leaning back slightly, licking his lips. "Your blood is motherfuckin' MIRACULOUS," he growled, squeezing John's wrists before holding up his own hand, which had Kanaya's blood on it. "This blood is motherfuckin' SHIT. VILE, PUTRID MOTHERFUCKING SHIT." He straddled John's hips, leaning in closer. "YOU are a MIRACLE, brother." He kissed John again, a rumbling purr vibrating from his chest.

John shuddered, flushing hard as he kissed Gamzee back, the mix of Gamzee's pheromones and the killing high riling him up and keeping him on edge. He parted his lips, groaning when he felt Gamzee shift his weight and grind against the erection in his pants.

Gamzee growled into John's mouth before leaning back and reaching down to grab John's pants and jerk them off before making quick work of his own, shifting back down into John's lap before the human could properly protest.

John blushed hard, biting down on his lip, his hands clenching into Gamzee's shirt, waaaaaaaaaay past the point of protest. He bit down on his lip harder, groaning loudly as Gamzee lowered himself down onto him, throwing his head back against the wall when he felt Gamzee's nook squeeze and flex around him. "SHIT—"

Gamzee growled, bracing his hand up on the wall next to John's head, jerking his hips hard, reveling in the almost painful sensation in his nook. He felt John's hands clench into his shirt and press against the sensitive grub-scars in his sides, only adding to the MIRACULOUS pleasure.

John groaned louder, bucking his hips up as best he could with Gamzee in his lap, shaking almost violently from the adrenaline and pleasure high that refused to simmer down, clinging to Gamzee's shirt for dear life. "GAMZEE…!" he choked out, panting harder. "FUCK, GAMZEE…!"

Gamzee hissed, dragging his claws down the metal wall, bucking his hips harder, more pleased than he could hope to describe at the sound of his pail-mate calling his name. He wanted MORE. He wanted his John to SCREAM his name, to PROVE he belonged to the Subjugglator!

He grabbed John's head with his free hand, turning it to the side and pinning it to the wall, lurching down and biting savagely into John's throat.

John screamed, almost tearing Gamzee's shirt right off his body, feeling a gulp of blood rise up in his throat, spilling over his chin. "GUH…!" he sputtered, clinging to Gamzee tightly. "GUH…AM…ZEE…!" His eyes rolled back, almost passing out from the hypersensitivity to the pain and pleasure.

Gamzee sucked at the spurting blood wound, letting out guttural groans of absolute DELIGHT at the rush of John's blood filling his mouth. MIRACLES on top of motherfucking MIRACLES happening...! He licked the wound hard as it began to slowly close, turning John's face back to his, seeing the odd complexion of pale and flushed and marveling in it. "You're motherfuckin' MINE," he snarled, rolling his hips harder. "MINE, MOTHERFUCKER!"

John keened loudly, holding Gamzee to him tightly, burying his face in the troll's shoulder, shaking violently, almost sobbing from the overstimulation. "GAMZEE—" he whined, his voice muffled by Gamzee's shoulder. "GAMZEE, I—"

Gamzee growled, clenching his hands into John's hair. "If I'm your motherfuckin' bucket, you're MY motherfuckin' bucket," he reminded. John didn't care. He crushed Gamzee's body against his, biting into the troll's shoulder as he came, letting out almost pained sobbing groans.

Gamzee remained still for a moment, feeling John's grip on him loosen until the human was a shaking, boneless mess. He then leaned John against the wall, standing up, hissing at the dull ache in his nook and the more insistent ache in his bulge, holding John's head in place, staring down at his miraculously beautiful human almost benevolently. "Open your motherfuckin' mouth, brother," he purred, his bulge curling at John's lips.

John obediently opened his mouth, groaning softly as he felt the bulge slide in, this time feeling no disgust at the sensation. He hardly felt ANYTHING anymore, except for excruciating pleasure aftershocks…other than the almost gentle petting Gamzee was performing on his head. He shuddered at the gentle papping, opening his mouth wider, shakily reaching up to hold Gamzee's bony hips, sucking hard.

Gamzee hissed, his bulge twitching hard. "Motherfuck…" he hissed, clenching his free hand into the wall again. Maybe it was the high from John's blood or the lingering image of John covered in shitty jade blood, but FUCK if this wasn't so much better than the last time. He slid his hand around to cup behind John's head, pressing it forward, groaning loudly when John readily swallowed him with ease. "MotherFUCK—"

John felt much calmer doing this this time around, something he'd never really thought to say about having an alien dick shoved down his throat, but just seemed SO much easier now. He sucked and swallowed faster, feeling his head swimming rapidly. SHIT, he hoped he wasn't passing out in the middle of this…

Thankfully, the telltale rigidness and swelling of Gamzee's bulge let him know it was almost over, and braced himself for a gushing of fluid. It came moments later, when Gamzee pressed his head in hard, the troll letting out a piercing shriek he was sure no human could make if they TRIED, and John was once again overburdened with the genetic fluid.

Gamzee backed away, his legs almost giving out, watching John retch and cough with a hand pressed over his mouth in an attempt to stop from vomiting up fluid. This time, only a spit's worth was ejected before John collapsed down, shaking and panting. Gamzee lowered himself down, pulling John into his arms and giving him soothing shooshpaps, purring comfortingly.

"Shoosh," he murmured, nuzzling John's head. "Shoosh, motherfucker…" He smiled when John did just that, the shaking easing up and the breathing evening out. He kept papping John's head until soft, breathy snores filled the room, letting him know John had fallen asleep.

Gamzee gently scooped John up and slipped over to the cloth pile, nestling them both in, closing his eyes and letting sleep take him as well.

* * *

"Ugh, where the fuck is Kanaya with the coffee?" Vriska grumbled. "It's been like, a half-hour!"

"Then go get it yourself, fuck," Dave shot back. "Do you complain about EVERY little inconvenience, or just the SUPER important ones?"

"GOD, I'll get it," Rose cut in before it came to blows. She headed for the transportalizer, jumping back when it activated, screaming when she saw who it was.

Dripping jade blood from various wounds, mostly from snapped bones poking through flesh, Kanaya stumbled off the transportalizer, almost crashing to the floor, had Rose not gathered her senses enough to catch her.

"KANAYA!" Rose screamed, her hands shaking hard as she tried to figure out what exactly to do. "OH MY GOD, KANAYA…!"

Karkat leapt from the couch, running over, staring at Kanaya in horror. "Oh….fucking FUCK….!" He knelt down next to Rose. "Kanaya…wha….who…?" His eyes flashed red, jumping to his feet. "THAT FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT! I'LL KILL HIM! I'LL FUCKING KILL HIM!" He turned to the transportalizer, freezing when Kanaya's hand snapped up to grab his wrist.

Kanaya struggled to speak, which was difficult to do with her ribs tearing into her lungs. "K…..aaaar…." she wheezed, her grip loosening. "…..J….Joooohnnn….." She fell unconscious, her hand dropping to the floor.

Karkat stared at Kanaya. "What? John? What the fuck ABOUT…" He paused. "…You…you cant fucking tell me John fucking Egbert did this…!"

"FUCK that noise!" Dave snapped. "He WOULDN'T! What if she found John?" He dug his hands into his hair. "SHIT! JUST…SHIT!" He kicked a chair all the way across the room.

Rose gathered Kanaya up into her arms, fretting about what to do to help Kanaya heal as Vriska and Terezi hurriedly made a makeshift medical area. Karkat stared at the blood on the floor, his hands flexing.

John couldn't have done this.

No FUCKING way.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

After situating Kanaya, it was established that nobody would be traveling alone again, not even to the bathroom. The process of practically manually rearranging her bone structure to help her heal faster gave no one any reason to protest the call.

Once Kanaya was in a better state of rest, everyone sat down, took a breather, and began wondering just what the hell was going on.

"She wouldn't have stopped you from going after Gamzee if he was the one who did it," Terezi said, leaning her head on her hands. "She made it a point to say John's name."

Karkat shook his head, chewing on his thumb claw. "No no no no no," he muttered. "Egbert wouldn't have done this…"

"…Karkat…" Terezi's voice took on a more serious tone. "…I smelled him on Kanaya."

Karkat's head shot up, staring at her incredulously. "…what?"

"I smelled John on Kanaya…or what HAD to be him. It smelled like hot, blazing daytime winds…and I dunno if you've noticed, but John can smell different…depending on what's going on."

Truthfully, he HADNT noticed. He shook his head, scowling. "It just doesn't make any fucking SENSE," he growled. "Why the FUCK would Egbert do this to Kanaya?! I mean…fuck, shit, YEAH, we might have….not made him feel MOST at home, but THIS?"

"I don't know what to say," Terezi replied. "But that wind scent on her smelled….angry."

Karkat rubbed his face hard, like the motion would rouse up some sort of revelation. "…We're gonna have to fucking do it," he said. "We're gonna have to go into the fucking vents."

* * *

John quietly slathered some jam on a slice of bread, taking longer than necessary to do so, mostly just staring at it. The jam was a clotted purple, probably blackberry-grape, from the smell. But it wasn't the smell that had John so transfixed. It was the color. Absently, in the back of his mind, he wondered if this is what Gamzee's viscera would look like.

Unappetizing as that stray thought was, John regardless put the knife down and stuffed the bread into his mouth, chewing hungrily. He was almost starving from having so little to eat the past couple of days, though his stomach had that tight, knotted feeling of being ravenous but not quite hungry at the same time. He took larger bites, forcing the food down, trying to shove that knot down with it.

Soon the bread was gone, the entire small loaf Gamzee had brought him. When had he eaten it all? It couldn't have been just NOW. He was still hungry. He looked at the jar of jam and grabbed it, tipping the whole thing back into his mouth, not caring that some of it ended up on his shirt instead.

When the jar was empty, he put it down, sitting back, staring at it.

Why did everything feel like…it wasn't real? Everything seemed dull and numb around him, like he slept on his brain wrong and it fell asleep, leaving nothing but static and numbness. Everything he touched barely registered…everything he ate was almost tasteless. He could barely hear anything except his own breathing and heart beating.

It should have been frightening…but instead, John found it almost comforting. Like a big, warm, soothing blanket being wrapped around him, making him feel safe. He could stay like this, he decided. Just stay here…and not worry about anything else…

Gamzee sat up, yawning and rubbing his eyes, smearing his paint more than it already was. He couldn't really be assed to care, since he felt so calmed and refreshed. He hadn't had a good sleep like that in half a while. He looked around for John, frowning when he saw the human sitting in the corner, unmoving.

He looked around, noticing it was messier than usual in here. Empty drink cartons and food containers were strewn about, things he never recalled eating or drinking. Did John eat and drink all this? He scooted over to John. "Hey, motherfucker," he said. "You ate everything."

No response.

Gamzee frowned, looking at John's face. John was staring blankly at an empty jam jar, his eyes glassy with pupils so dilated they almost looked black. Gamzee grabbed John's shoulder, shaking him. "Johnbro," he said. "Wake the motherfuck up!" Silence. "JOHNBRO!"

John jumped, jerking back against the wall, his pupils going from huge to tiny in a split second, looking almost panicked, his breathing going erratic. Gamzee reached out, pulling John to him, papping his head.

"Easy, motherfucker," he said. "Didn't mean to get your motherfuckin' scare on. Shoosh…shoosh…" He patted John's head feeling the human settle down and lean into him to hug him back.

"….sorry…." John murmured into Gamzee's shoulder. "…dunno…what happened."

Gamzee sighed, snorting. "Motherfucker ate everything, that's what motherfuckin' happened," he replied somewhat humorously. "Need to get some motherfuckin' more."

John clung to him tighter. "I'm sorry…" John said again. Gamzee shook his head, wondering what the fuck was up with all the apologizing. John leaned back, rubbing at his face. "…I need a bath," he said. "I feel…" He grimaced, going from feeling numb to feeling like he was covered in slime. "…I feel gross…"

Gamzee shrugged, heading to the trapdoor. "No issue there, motherfucker," he said. "You get your motherfuckin' bath on, and I'll get us some motherfuckin' food." He pulled John over, easing him down before following, guiding him to the bathroom and showing him in. "Take your motherfuckin' time," he said. "I'll be right the fuck back." He closed the grate, heading off.

John walked over to the tub and began filling it up, stripping off his God Tier outfit before sliding in, shuddering at the hot water. He'd been too embarrassed by Gamzee's antics to notice before, but this water had a slightly oily feel to it. It wasn't unpleasant…more like adding some baby oil to his bath like he used to when he got dry skin in the winter. He settled in up to his neck, sighing heavily.

What was even wrong with him?

He stared up at the steam-filled air, letting his mind go numb again. He felt less…slimy when his brain was numb. He didn't even know why he felt slimy in the first place…like his skin was crawling with maggots and things moved either extra fast or extra slow so his brain couldn't catch up. He hoped this bath could help clean that slime off and clear his head so time would move normal again.

Dave walked into the bathroom with Karkat, assuring that NO, the troll DIDN'T have to watch him piss, unless he was into that sort of thing, and ducked when Karkat swiped at his head. "Take a joke, just trying not to freak out—" he stopped short, Karkat almost tripping over him.

"The FUCK, Strider—!?" Karkat snapped, but quieted down when he saw Dave's stricken look. "…Dave?" He followed Dave's line of sight, gaping when he saw John in one of the tubs, just soaking there. Words failed him. Out of anything expected to be seen in the bathroom with Dave, this was pretty much on the bottom his list.

Dave broke the stunned silence, running over. "JOHN!" he shouted. "JOHN, YOU FUCKING—FUCK!" He was close to tears, reaching out to touch John's shoulders.

Like a switch had been flipped, John's brain went from 0 to 110, jumping out of the tub, a violent wind kicking up around him as his clothes reappeared on his body. He snarled, blasting Dave and Karkat back with a gust of wind, sending them crashing into the wall.

Dave shook off the shock of the blow, jumping up, shielding his face from the wind. "JOHN!" he shouted, taking a few steps forward. "JOHN, CALM DOWN! IT'S ME, DAVE!" He was thrown back against the wall, this time by a physical shove from John, who pinned him to the wall with a hand to the throat.

John glared at him, hissing, his pupils almost invisible from the surge of his power combined with the hyper-vigilance. He squeezed Dave's neck, growling as Dave flailed and grasped onto John's arms.

"J…OHN…!" he gasped out, struggling. When the SHIT did John get this STRONG?! "LET….GO…..! …..JOHN…!"

John's wind settled down slightly, the glow in his eyes fading as he looked at Dave. His hands unclenched from Dave's neck, and Dave took deep, gulping gasps of air, coughing. "….Dave…."

Karkat sat up, rubbing his head, hissing. "WHAT THE FUCK, EGBERT!?" he shouted. "WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FU—"

John went back into attack mode seeing Karkat, pushing off from Dave and diving on Karkat, pinning him back to the floor by the throat, his brain screaming _KILL HIM! KILL THE FUCKER WHO HURT GAMZEE! KILL HIM!_ _ **MOTHERFUCKING KILL HIM!**_

Karkat gasped for air, kicking and clawing at John's face and arms, letting out pained, squeaking keens of pain. Dave jumped up, trying to pry John off of Karkat, screaming his head off as John kept blasting him back with a gust of wind.

"JOHN, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, STOP!" he screamed, managing to catch John's hood and pull as hard as he could. "JOHN!"

Karkat's vision started to go black, his grip on John's wrists starting to weaken as life left his body. He let out a rasping gurgle, his arms dropping limply to his sides, going still.

Dave jerked on the hood harder, screaming when he saw Karkat go limp, grabbing his sword and swinging it at John, already in tears at having to resort to this.

At the last moment, Vriska came bolting in, drop-kicking John off of Karkat and wasting no time in grabbing John's head to smash it against the wall, knocking him right out. The wind in the bathroom died down immediately, and there was a heavy, dead silence for a few long moments.

"KARKAT!" Dave scurried over to Karkat, shaking him and leaning down to press his ear against Karkat's mouth. Nothing. "SHIT! KARKAT!" He tipped Karkat's head back and began to administer CPR, trying to control his own hysterical breathing. "WAKE THE FUCK UP, YOU FUCKASS!" He leaned down, breathing in for Karkat again.

Karkat jerked up, sputtering and gasping for air, coughing hoarsely and flailing at Dave in a panic. Dave grabbed Karkat's arms, easing him up. "Karkat, calm down! You're okay! You're okay…!" He wiped at his eyes, shaking hard. "You're okay, Karkat…"

Karkat coughed again, hands going to his neck to touch it lightly, taking a few more deep breathes as he slowly calmed down, almost pitching forward as a sudden lightheadedness hit him like a ton of bricks.

Dave caught him, holding him tightly, shaking hard as he looked over at John. Vriska was tying John up with his own hood tail, checking him over to make sure she hadn't accidentally killed him.

"….shit," she muttered, hoisting John up. "What the absolute FUCK happened here?!"

"…I don't fucking know," Dave said, petting Karkat's head quietly. "I don't even FUCKING know."

Terezi hurried in pausing to sniff around. "…oh GOG, what EVEN!?" she shouted, tapping her cane around to avoid tripping over anything. She paused, smelling the air near Karkat. "…what happened…to Karkat?" she asked. Dave said nothing, and she turned her attention to Vriska and John. "You found him!" She knelt down, poking at John, then paused, sniffing harder.

"What?" Vriska said, frowning. Terezi looked up, looking confused and a little scared.

"…I smell Gamzee all over him," she replied, reflexively turning her head to sniff around. "…he's not here, but I just smell him ALL over John!"

Vriska's jaw tightened as she picked John up. "Let's just get the fuck out of here," she muttered, glancing around almost nervously. She carried John out, being tailed by Terezi and Dave, who carried Karkat.

* * *

Gamzee returned to the bathroom about a half-hour later, having been held up by Rose piddling around in the kitchen, sensing before he even came to the grate that something was amiss. He shoved the grate open and jumped inside, looking around.

The bathroom was demolished with sections smashed. It smelled like hot desert air and…

…blood.

Gamzee hurried over to the smashed areas, looking around frantically until he found a red splash on the wall, rubbing it with his fingers and sticking them into his mouth.

It was John's blood.

Gamzee snarled, clenching his fists tightly. **MOTHERFUCKERS!** His eyes glanced to the side, spotting more blood on the floor…but a lighter, candy red. He glowered at the blood, rage pulsing in his brain.

KARKAT. _MOTHERFUCKING VANTAS._ _ **WAS DEAD!**_


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Rose carried in a bowl of poultice, setting it down before dabbing it gently onto Karkat's bruised neck. "We're lucky he didn't crush your windpipe," she said softly. "You might have difficulty breathing and talking for a couple days, though." She eased up on her application when Karkat let out a hoarse hiss.

Karkat just nodded, understanding completely, letting her finish up. "Right," he rasped, rubbing quietly at his face. He glanced over at Kanaya, gesturing to avoid speaking up again.

"…She's doing better," Rose replied. "She heals faster when she sleeps, so I'm just letting her do her thing." She put the poultice away, sitting back, rubbing her eyes, looking close to tears at the state everyone came in.

Dave was sitting over by the door that lead to the room John was in, looking exhausted but vigilant, looking close to a nervous breakdown. Terezi was sitting over by Vriska, who was looking more troubled than they ever recalled seeing her. Karkat was fully conscious and looking rougher than anyone else, his neck bruised an ugly blotchy red, one of his eyes having burst blood capillaries, making it look almost as red as his own blood.

"…I still don't get it," Rose said, rubbing her arms. "…John…he's….he'd NEVER do something like this…I KNOW he wouldn't…"

"It doesn't matter what the fuck he would or wouldn't do," Vriska said, scowling. "If Terezi's right and John's been with Gamzee, it wouldn't fucking MATTER!" She sat up straight, leaning her arms on her knees.

"…In case you guys haven't noticed, Gamzee has a way of manipulating people. Karkat, how many times have you complained about what a shit friend Gamzee was, only to keep coming back and doing things for him when he started to get clingy? Terezi, you have no reason to hate Gamzee, but how often did you feel compelled to enter a kismesissitude with him?" She flexed her hands, nibbling on her lip.

"…Fine. I'll say it. Fucking sue me to hell and back for admitting this, but Gamzee scares the ever-living SHIT out of me. Why the hell do you guys think I spend so much effort in keeping him subdued?" She ran her hand through her hair. "If I let my guard down even a little, he can grab hold of my fear and overwhelm me with it. He can overwhelm anyone with their own fear."

She glanced over at the door. "…I'm just wondering what the fuck he did to John to make him act like that."

The sound of metal being drawn made them all look over, where Dave pulled his sword out, holding it tightly. "I don't give a flying fuck what he did," Dave growled. "I'm taking his fucking head for what he did to John. Hope nobody has a fucking problem with it."

No objections were heard.

* * *

Gamzee practically stormed through the vents, having found most of the transportalizers disabled, growling loudly. _MOTHERFUCKERS. THEY TOOK JOHN. FREAKBLOODED KARKAT HURT JOHN._ He hurried through, looking through the vents for the next hour, finally pausing in front of one, looking in.

John was on a bed, bound down, fast asleep.

Gamzee hissed, jerking the grate open, jumping in and hurrying up to him, tearing off the binds to look him over. John looked to be in perfect health, apparently having healed completely from whatever strife he'd been in. Gamzee shook him, growling. "Wake up!" he said. "Wake the motherfuck up!"

When John didn't so much as move, Gamzee scowled, gently peeling back one of John's eyelids. A barely-noticeable cerulean blue light was glowing behind John's eyes, and Gamzee felt a fresh rush of rage.

FUCK-MOTHERING VRISKA PUT HIS JOHN TO SLEEP. WHAT THE FUCK ELSE DID SHE DO TO HIM!?

Gamzee pulled John to him, resting his forehead against John's, growling. "Wake up," he growled through clenched teeth. "Wake up wake up wake up wake up _wake up wake up wake up wake up_ _ **WAKE UP**_ —"

John's eyes flew open, gasping loudly, clinging to Gamzee tightly. His brain had been like a television with the channel button stuck in place, jumping from image to image before he could get a good grip on what he was seeing. Now the images finally stopped, and he could finally remember.

The gross feelings, the hunger, soaking in the tub, the FEAR, THE RAGE, **KILLING THE MOTHERFUCKER—**

He whimpered, burying his face in Gamzee's shoulder, shaking hard. That crawly, slimy feeling was squirming in his head, making it unbearable. "…m…make it s…stop…!" he whined, biting his lip. "My head…feels….like…" He shook his head as though to shake something out. "Like…." He growled, letting go of Gamzee to clench his hands into his hair. **"FEELS LIKE MOTHERFUCKIN' MAGGOTS! CRAWLING IN MY HEAD!"** He let go of his hair, dropping to his knees, whimpering again.

Gamzee knelt down, gathering John into his arms. "Johnbro, I'm here," he growled, petting John's head. "I've motherfuckin' got you. They wont motherfuckin' touch you again!" He nuzzled John's head, purring softly.

John leaned against Gamzee, pressing his face to Gamzee's chest, reveling in the purring. He could smell that musky scent on Gamzee's skin, his pupils dilating in sheer NEED. He moaned, pressing closer to Gamzee, burying his face in the troll's neck. "Gamzee…" he hissed, tugging at Gamzee's shirt.

Gamzee growled, knowing this probably wasn't the best place to do this, but hardly caring, grabbing John's hair and jerking his head back, kissing John hard. John moaned into Gamzee's mouth, stroking his hands down Gamzee's front, palming the squirming bulge through the troll's pants.

The action had Gamzee pinning John back on the floor, hissing loudly, biting John's lip hard. John groaned, squeezing Gamzee hard, threading his free hand into Gamzee's wild hair, tugging at it Gamzee growled, sucking on John's bloody lip before biting over John's jawline and neck, flicking his tongue out over the beads of blood that welled up. "Motherfuckin' MINE," he growled into John's ear. "Your motherfuckin' blood, your motherfuckin' body, MINE…!"

John hissed, pulling on Gamzee's hair harder, grabbing Gamzee's pants and jerking them down, shoving Gamzee off him and onto his back, crawling over to straddle Gamzee's hips. He stared down at him, his breathing ragged, pupils dilated to pinpricks. He had a throbbing in his brain, a screaming voice that was telling him _**FUCK YOUR HIGHBLOOD MOTHERFUCKER!**_ _ **DEVOUR HIM! DOMINATE HIM!**_ It was a voice he couldn't really contradict.

Like Gamzee had done to so many of his own shirts, John grabbed Gamzee's shirt in his hands and tore it in half, reaching down and jerking Gamzee's pants further off. Gamzee growled at him, grabbing him and jerking him back up, biting over his neck, tearing the top of John's shirt to get to the shoulders too. John grabbed his shoulders and shoved him back down.

 **"STAY THE MOTHERFUCK DOWN,"** he growled, shoving his pants down, stroking himself for a moment before shoving Gamzee's leg up and thrusting into him hard.

Gamzee howled, bucking his hips to John's, his bulge thrashing and curling onto his abdomen, feeling equal parts ecstatic and enraged that he was the one being dominated. He snarled and thrashed under John, digging his claws into his scalp since John was leaning far enough back that he couldn't reach. "MORE, MOTHERFUCKER!" he snapped. "GIVE ME MOTHERFUCKIN' MORE!"

John was more than happy to oblige, thrusting into Gamzee harder, growling loudly. His brain was screaming violent, vile wretchedness, urging him on to fuck and claw Gamzee raw, and the pleasure he was receiving was only making him all too eager to obey the screaming.

Gamzee shrieked when John clawed over his thighs, the drawing of blood only making him crave it himself. He jerked himself upward, digging his claws into John's shoulders, leaning in to bite John's neck, letting out a guttural groan of ecstasy at tasting the blood. He curled his arms around John's body, tongue dragging over his neck, his bulge thrashing, deftly surprised at how close he was already.

John hissed, reaching down and grabbing Gamzee's bulge, squeezing and stroking it, bucking his hips faster. **"FINISH UP, ROYALBLOOD,"** he hissed, squeezing Gamzee harder. **"YOUR MOTHERFUCKING BUCKET IS RIGHT HERE."**

Gamzee clenched around John tightly, snarling into the human's neck, his bulge going rigid. He felt John cum inside him moments before he gushed all over both of them, this time his genetic fluid having nowhere to go but EVERYWHERE on them, dragging his claws over John's back with a loud shriek.

John hissed, his back arched against the claws embedded into it, panting hard. His senses buzzed at the sight and smell of the genetic fluid, raising his purple-stained hand to his mouth and sucking on it lazily.

Having heard the loud scream inside the room, the door burst open and Dave and Karkat came rushing in. Nothing in Heaven, Hell, or any space in any universe prepared them for the sight of Gamzee and John half-naked and practically entwined with each other, red dripping from Gamzee's mouth and purple from John's, and the heavy smell of blood and sex permeating the air.

Karkat thought the worst thing he could ever see wasnt the sight of a pail coming right at his head, nor a homicidal John looming over him, but it was THIS. THIS nightmare fuel that would likely never leave his memory for as long as he lived.

Someone was screaming. Oh god, what the fuck!? WHO WAS SCREAMING!? WHO DIED!?

It took him a moment to realize it was HIM that was screaming.

His screaming brought in the rest of the group, and that was when all Hell broke loose.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

For once, Vriska had absolutely nothing to say. She could only stare at the ungodly abomination in front of her, Karkat's screaming pretty much summing up her feelings on the matter. Lucky for her, Dave managed to find his voice first.

"WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCKING SHIT!?" Dave shrieked, his voice hitting a pitch that could probably break glass. "WHAT THE FUCK!? WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FU—"

Not giving a single fuck about his lack of dress, Gamzee bolted up from John and dived on Dave, bashing him right back out of the room with one of his clubs he summoned up. He held them up at everyone else, hackles raised, letting out a territorial shriek that made everyone's hair stand on end.

Nothing at that moment was more frightening than an armed, naked, screaming Subjugglator. Nothing at FUCKING ALL. And unfortunately for Vriska, the sight of a post-coital Gamzee and John made her drop her guard, and she felt TERROR. She saw Gamzee turn towards her, and she shrieked, instinctively flashing into God Tier mode, which did nothing but possibly give her more hardiness in avoiding major internal injury as Gamzee swung his clubs hard, sending her flying out of the room and into the wall of the other room.

Karkat stopped screaming, ducking down as the clubs were swung at his head, scrambling away and whipping out his sickles, his blood pulsing in his ears in terror. He took a step back, his hands shaking. "Gamzee…" he rasped out, "…please….stop this…!"

Gamzee growled loudly, his eyes a dark red, baring his teeth. "No motherfuckin' stopping it now, shit-for-blood," he snarled, taking a step forward for every step Karkat took back. "You motherfuckin' hurt what was mine. YOU MOTHERFUCKIN' DARED TO MOTHERFUCKIN' HURT WHAT WAS MINE!"

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!" Karkat shouted, his voices breaking up. "I DIDN'T HURT ANYONE! I SWEAR TO GO—" He was cut off with a loud gagging sound when John jumped up behind him, wrapping his hood tail around his neck, pulling it taut.

John's eyes were glowing with an almost dark light, a manic grin on his face. **"KILL HIM, MOTHERFUCKER!"** he crowed, pulling the cloth tighter. **"KILL THE SHIT WHO MOTHERFUCKING HURT YOU! KILL 'EM ALL!** _ **MOTHERFUCKIN' KILL 'EM ALL!**_ **"**

Gamzee clenched his hands into his clubs, watching John strangle Karkat with the hood tail, feeling a surge of insane glee. Someone wanted to help him. Someone wanted to MOTHERFUCKING HELP HIM KILL THE MOTHERFUCKERS. He wasn't going to be the monster here this time!

He let out a high-pitched laugh, strutting forward. "WITH MOTHERFUCKIN' PLEASURE, BROTHER!" he shrieked, swinging the clubs back for a blow, only to be blasted into the wall.

Rose held up her needlewands, aiming one at Gamzee, who was already getting up, and the other at John, tearing up. "JOHN!" she screamed. "STOP IT! LET KARKAT GO, PLEASE! WE JUST WANT TO HELP YOU!"

John growled, only tightening the hood, which Karkat was having trouble trying to keep from crushing his larynx. **"FUCK YOU!"** he snarled. **"I DON'T NEED ANY MOTHERFUCKING HELP!"** He grinned, jerking the hood tightly. **"BUT THIS MOTHERFUCKER DOES!"** He levitated off the floor, essentially hanging Karkat from the hood.

"STOP IT!" Rose screamed, sobbing. "JOHN, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!? LET HIM GO!"

Karkat struggled harder, kicking his legs hard, his face turning a muddy reddish color. _'THIS CANT BE FUCKING HAPPENING!'_ he screamed in his head as his vision started going red. _'PLEASE DON'T LET THIS BE HAPPENING! PLEASE!'_ For the second time that day, he began feeling the suffocating blanket of death come over him, not knowing if he was going to be cheating death out this time around.

Dave jumped up, throwing his shattered shades to the floor, bolting back into the room, shoving Rose aside and jumping up to where John was, slamming his fist into John's face, making the Heir smash into the wall. He caught Karkat and jerked the hood off of him, holding him tightly in one arm, brandishing his sword with the other.

"I'LL TAKE CARE OF JOHN!" he shouted at Rose. "YOU TAKE THE CHUCKLEFUCK!" He situated Karkat in the corner of the room, standing protectively over him as John stood up, seemingly unconcerned with the blood running down his face from the blow to the head he took, though his pupils were heavily dilated.

"…Dave…" he murmured, swaying slightly. "….it hurts, Dave…" He swayed again, more violently. "….why…did you hurt me, Dave…?" His body went rigid, his pupils constricting back to pinpricks. **"YOU MOTHERFUCKERS KEEP HURTING ME! YOU MAKE MY MOTHERFUCKING HEAD HURT!"** He dug his fingernails into his scalp, drawing more blood.

Gamzee snarled at Rose, getting up from the floor. "I aint got motherfuckin' issues with you, Lightbitch," he growled, picking his clubs back up. "But I'm motherfuckin' ABOUT TO IF YOU DON'T BACK THE FUCK UP AN' LET ME KILL SOME MOTHERFUCKERS!"

Rose scowled, swallowing down her fear, repeating the mantra in her head that this was nothing. Gamzee was nothing compared to the Horrorterrors, compared to Grimdark. She had seen worse. It was a difficult mantra to keep up, continuously having black terror rise up every time she looked Gamzee in the eye. The terror was making it difficult to See the best way to end this, and tried to look anywhere ELSE but his eyes, raising her needlewands and blasting at him.

Gamzee jumped out of the way, easily dodging her blasts, hurling one of his clubs to smack into one of her hands, the force behind the toss breaking it and making her drop the needlewand. Rose shrieked, blasting at him with her good needlewand, jumping back and up into the air when he dove close enough to almost swing his club into her head.

Terezi was standing back by Kanaya, her cane swords drawn so she could defend Kanaya if need be. She heard Vriska shift from her place on the floor. "VRISKA! THEY NEED HELP!" she shouted.

"I KNOW THAT, TEREZI!" Vriska groaned, sitting up and taking out her Fluorite Octet. "Goddamn dice, don't fail me now!" She tossed the Octet, rushing into the room, feeling the result surge in her form— **Mimic**. _PERFECT._

She honed in on John and braced herself, knowing she only had one shot at the Mimic, and reached out, feeling her Aspect change from Light to Breath for all of one moment, turning to Gamzee and revving up a concentrated gale of wind around her fist, shooting toward him and driving it into his face, using the force of her blow and her wind-propelled flight to knock him right through the wall and into the other room, sending him crashing into metal piping.

The roll was done, and Vriska felt the Breath power leave her, staring down at Gamzee, who was knocked clean the fuck out. She reached down and grabbed him by the hair, dragging him back to the other room, where Dave and Rose were pinning John down as the Heir thrashed and cried, screaming about 'maggots in his brain'.

"Keep him held down," she said, putting her fingers up to her temple, focusing her power into putting John to sleep. John zonked out, but continued to twitch around and mumble.

Dave sat back hard, running a shaking hand through his hair. "Shit…" he muttered. "Shit shit shit shit SHIT…" He flicked his eyes at the unconscious Gamzee, clenching his hands. "…What are we going to do with him?" he said.

"What I intended to do with him in the first place," Vriska said. "Locking him in a small box, and I'm going to CHAIN that box. And since I cant find the fucking fridge, I guess I'll have to fine something ELSE."

Dave jumped up, grabbing his sword. "FUCK that!" he spat, glowering down at Gamzee in disgust. "Let me kill him!"

"Dave—" Rose cut in, reaching up to grab his arm. Dave jerked his arm away.

""LET ME FUCKING KILL HIM!" he shouted. "LOOK AT WHAT HE FUCKING DID! FUCKING LOOK AT JOHN!" He gestured at John on the floor, who was breaking out in a cold sweat. "LET. ME. FUCKING. KILL. HIM!"

Vriska looked between Dave and Gamzee, weighing her options between having a wild joker in her deck and having one less problem to deal with. Finally, she dropped Gamzee to the floor, stepping back. "Be my guest," she said.

"Dave, wait!" Rose said, staring at Gamzee, getting a bad feeling. "Just….wait a minute, I don't think killing him is what's best here—"

"Zero fucks given, Rose," Dave growled, stalking up to Gamzee and raising his sword.

"GODDAMN IT DAVE, LISTEN TO ME!" Rose shouted, jumping up and grabbing his arm. "Let Vriska put him in a secure place! If something's REALLY wrong with John, we MIGHT need him to fix him!" She buried her face into his shoulder, crying. "….They're both out…it's over….please…take care of Karkat….we'll take care of John and Gamzee."

Dave growled, his hand flexing around the hilt of his sword before he lowered his arm, dropping it. "…Keep that son of a bitch out of my sight," he hissed, turning to Karkat, picking him up. "…If I see him again, I WILL kill him. I don't give a fuck WHAT happens because of that." He carried Karkat out.

Vriska bent down, grabbing Gamzee again. "I'll take care of this," she said. "I'd make sure John's bound to the bed. No clue how he's going to react when he wakes up." She flew off with Gamzee.

Rose leaned down, scooping John up, wiping her eyes. "God, John…what's happened to you?"


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Rose quietly closed the curtain that separated John's sleeping space from the rest of the library, walking over to Kanaya and sitting down on the floor next to her small bed. The past few hours seemed like a big nightmare, and she didn't seem to be waking up from it anytime soon.

The only source of comfort was that Kanaya was looking much better and almost close to waking up. She really needed someone to talk to. Dave was still wound up in attack mode, his sword twitching every time he heard so much as a creak, keeping a vigilant watch over Karkat, who was sleeping off being asphyxiated for the second time that day. Terezi was helping Vriska with wherever they decided to stash Gamzee, and Rose was left watching over John.

The Heir was still twitching and shaking in bed, every once and awhile letting out sharp explicatives before calming down. It was honestly more reminiscent of someone going through detox than someone being controlled with mind games. She absently wondered of Gamzee had been feeding him anything questionable.

She looked up when Terezi walked in. "…Is everything okay?" she asked. Terezi sat down with a heavy sigh.

"….He's contained, if that's what you're asking," Terezi replied. We couldnt find a sturdy-enough box and we kind of need the walk-in…so she improvised with a room with no vents, a LOT of chains, and some tranquilizers." She leaned back against a chair, taking off her shades and rubbing her eyes.

Rose frowned. "…Are you alright?" she asked. Terezi put her shades back on.

"…It was weird," Terezi said. "…I came with the tranquilizers just as he was waking up. He was screaming for John." She hugged her legs, resting her chin on her knees. "He started threatening us….saying he'd slaughter us if we hurt him." She glanced in the general direction of John's little sleeping corner. "I'm starting to think they have a…thing."

Rose scowled. "Well correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think even troll romance makes someone end up like John!" She gestured back at John's corner. "I just watched John deliberately try to hang Karkat and get Gamzee to kill him! I'm pretty sure filling a Quadrant doesn't mean suddenly going insane!"

Terezi nodded. "You're right. It doesn't." She hugged her legs tighter. "Something just…" She rubbed between her eyes. "…something is telling me that keeping them apart is only going to make things worse."

"…Can you See it?" Rose asked. Terezi shook her head.

"No. It's…difficult to see what Gamzee would do…he's too unpredictable. And John…his mind is too much of a mess. And that's what's frightening. Too many unknowns, going down the same path that's too veiled for me to see."

Rose rubbed her arm, frowning. "It's still not right," she said, then looked up when John started to get fussy in his corner. "He's hurting right now. And it's HIS fault." She picked up a bottle of water, heading back behind the curtain.

John was shifting around in his bindings, sweating hard, whimpering. Rose set the water bottle down, brushing his damp hair off his face. "John, it's Rose…calm down, okay? You're safe." She picked up a cloth soaking in a bowl of water, wringing it out and putting it over his forehead.

John jerked awake when the cloth hit his forehead, his eyes glassy and panicked, jerking around harder. "G…Gamzee…!" he stammered. Rose shushed him, easing him back down.

"Calm down John, please…" Rose said quietly. She turned and shooed Dave back out when he poked his head in to see if everything was alright. She petted at his head until he relaxed back, though still in a shaking, pale mess.

"….where….where is he…?" John muttered, his eyes flicking around almost blindly. "…is…he okay…?" Rose only guessed John was talking about Gamzee, her jaw tightening.

"He's fine," she replied shortly. She poked a straw into the water bottle, putting the end into his mouth. John drank half the bottle in deep, needy gulps before lying back, refusing to drink more.

"…where is he…?" John asked again, looking over at her. "…he…needs me…"

Rose shook her head, finding it hard to keep her mouth shut to avoid upsetting him. "He's secure, John," she said, standing. "Vriska is keeping watch. I'm going to get you something to eat." She turned to leave, jumping when she felt a strong hand around her wrist. She jerked back around to see that John's arm had gotten out of the bind. How…?

She realized with a start that John's arm was almost transparent and shifting slightly like a short gif of smoke in the breeze before solidifying. From the coolness around her wrist, she guessed that John had turned his arm into wind to get it free.

"…Rose…" John's voice went soft and almost scared. "Get Vriska away from him…! She'll hurt him!"

Rose tugged on her arm slightly, feeling no give to John's grip. "John, she's the only one who will make a decent guard in the room he's locked in," she said. "Let me go—"

"ROSE!" John's eyes got wider and more fearful. "Rose…it's not his fault…he…they HURT him, Rose…!" Tears fell down his face. "Vriska KILLED someone he loved….she's…she's POISON, Rose…!" His pupils constricted to pinpricks, rage crawling over his features. **"THE BITCH IS MOTHERFUCKING POISON!"** His hand around her wrist clamped down hard.

"John!" Rose yelped, tugging hard. "John, please, let go! Calm down, please…!" She stumbled back into Dave, who came in just in time to catch her when John let go of her wrist suddenly. "John—"

John clenched his hand into his hair, jerking around harder. "SHIT!" he shouted, hyperventilating. **"FUCKING SHIT! GODDAMN FUCKING—"** He broke out into sobs. "MAKE IT STOP, ROSE! THE MAGGOTS ARE EATING MY BRAIN!" He turned on his side, curling up tightly. "Gamzee…..where are you...make it stop…."

Dave pulled Rose out of the corner, scowling. "Still don't think the chucklefuck has to go?" he hissed, glowering at nothing in particular. He clenched his hand around the sword before stalking for the transportalizer.

"Dave, where are you going!?" Rose hissed, tailing him. "DAVE!" She held back when he transportalized away. "Damn it…" She headed back into John's corner, gently uncurling him and leaning him back.

John was settling down, but he was still pale and shaking violently. "R…Rose…" he stammered. "…I…did bad things…didn't…I…?"

Rose paused, biting her lip hard. "…Don't worry about it, John," she said softly. "It wasn't your fault…" She dabbed at his head with the damp cloth again.

"I did…I….Karkat…he…..and….!"

"Shhh." Rose bit her lip harder to keep from crying. "John, please. It's okay. Really. It's okay…" She put the cloth over his eyes. "….Sleep now, okay? Just relax and sleep…it'll be okay when you wake up."

John settled down, his shaking getting less violent. Rose sighed with relief, tidying up his area before turning to check on Kanaya.

"Rose."

She paused, glancing back. John's face was turned to her, the cloth still over his eyes.

"…Tell Gamzee if…he starts getting mad again, I'm here…" He held out his arm. "…My blood calms him down…I don't want him to hurt himself…"

Rose stared for a moment, almost dropping the cloths she was carrying. Something started clicking in her head, and she nodded, even though he couldn't see. "…I'll…I'll tell him, John," she said, swallowing hard. "Go to sleep now."

John sighed, relaxing back, a faint smile on his face.

Rose hurried out to Kanaya, sitting down next to her. "Kanaya, you have to hurry," she murmured. "I need your help."

* * *

Vriska leaned against the door to the secure room, her arms crossed, looking ill at ease. It wasn't just the fact that before she tranquilized Gamzee he had been screaming for John, it was the fact that the juggalo was now sobbing in the room so loudly she could hear it. She was half-tempted to walk in and kick him in the head until he stopped, it made her so uncomfortable.

She looked up when Dave walked over. "What's up, Strider?" she asked.

"Relieving you of your post," Dave said, his hand flexing around his sword. "Go take a break, Terezi looks like she needs someone to talk to."

Vriska arched a brow. "Cant bullshit a bullshitter Daaaaaaaave," she drawled. "I know what you're up do."

"What's it fucking to you?" he growled. "Either way, not your problem." He jerked his head in the direction of the transportalizer. "Beat it."

Vriska snorted, pushing off from the wall. "Be my guest," she replied. "Try not to make TOO big of a mess." She headed off.

Dave stared at the door, listening to the sobbing behind it, clenching his teeth tightly. He wasn't about to give in to the clown's tears. FUCK that noise. He grabbed the handle and unlocked it, pushing the door open.

Gamzee was curled up in the corner, his arms, wrists, thighs, and ankles bound in heavy chains, his skin bruised a deep purple from where the chains squeezed against him. Dave grimaced, seeing Gamzee wasn't given anything to wear, but pushed the squick back. He stepped inside, seeing the troll tense up and choke back a sob.

"J….John…." Gamzee rasped. Dave clenched his hand around his sword.

"No," he said, seeing Gamzee twitch hard. He watched as Gamzee lazily shift around and sit up, leaning against the wall tiredly.

"…oh. It's YOU." Gamzee's voice was heavy and grating, thick with the tranquilizer-induced grogginess. "….the motherfuckin' blasphemer." He didn't turn around. "The motherfuck…do YOU want?"

"Right now? To cut your fucking head off. To slice you into pieces. To KILL you, and make sure you don't get back up." He growled, his red eyes blazing. "The ONLY reason you're alive is because Rose thinks you're of use. But I think differently. I think John will be better off with you dead. He'll go back to normal, once your sick mind games with him are over and DONE with."

Gamzee growled, the chains clinking slightly as he shifted around, the corner of his eye glowering at Dave. "Mind games?" he growled. "WHAT motherfuckin' MIND GAMES? Like the ones YOU motherfuckers played!?" He hissed, the yellows of his eyes turning light orange. He shifted to turn around, facing Dave.

"I'm motherfuckin' EVERYWHERE, blasphemer," he said. "I watched you motherfuckers…I saw you welcome Johnbro into your little motherfuckin' group….and then leave him aaaaaaaall alone." He let out a shriek of laughter. "I WAS MOTHERFUCKIN' THERE WHEN YOU MOTHERFUCKERS WERENT! You motherfuckers didn't even know he was GONE until he was motherfuckin' MINE!" He spat out blood-gobbed saliva at Dave's feet.

"You're just as motherfuckin' sinful an' disgusting as the motherfuckin' peasantbloods," he growled. "You all spit an' point th' motherfuckin' fingers at me, but ACT LIKE YOUR SHIT DOESN'T MOTHERFUCKIN' ROT UP THE MOTHERFUCKIN' PLACE!" He paused, leaning back against the wall, his expression going almost gentle.

"…..Johnbro….he…saw the motherfuckin'…THINGS I did…but unlike YOU motherfuckers…he asked me WHY….." He jerked up, screaming bloody murder, startling Dave into almost tripping back. "THE MOTHERFUCKIN' INDIGO PEASANT CALLED ME A DISGRACE FOR SWEEPS, AN' HAD THE MOTHERFUCKIN' ARROGANCE TO DEMAND THINGS OF ME! The motherfuckin' kittybitch got in my motherfuckin' bloodlusted way. AND THE MOTHERFUCKIN' SPIDERBITCH _KILLED MY TAVROS!_ "

Fresh purple tears were running down the track already left on his face, his eyes blazing red with a gleam of purple in the irises. "But you motherfuckers don't give a shit about THAT, do ya?" He growled, baring his teeth. "I hope Johnbro KILLS ALL YOU MOTHERFUCKERS! YOU ALL MOTHERFUCKIN' DESERVE IT!"

"Shut the fuck up," Dave hissed, his hand shaking. "You shut the FUCK up! If ANYONE deserves to fucking die, it's YOU! JOHN IS GOING FUCKING CRAZY BECAUSE OF YOU! HE WAS NEVER LIKE THIS!" He blinked back the furious tears. "YOU TOOK THE MOST COMPASSIONATE PERSON IN THE FUCKING UNIVERSE AND MADE HIM INTO A MONSTER! YOU TURNED MY BEST FRIEND INTO A FUCKING MONSTER—"

He hurked, covering his mouth with his free hand, his nerves making him sick to his stomach. He leaned against the wall to keep his legs from collapsing, shaking. "I want him back," he whispered harshly, clenching his hand around the hilt of his sword. "Give him back to me, you son of a bitch! GIVE HIM BACK TO ME!" He rushed at Gamzee, kicking him onto his back, raising the sword over his head. "GIVE HIM BACK TO ME, YOU FUCKING SON OF A BITCH!"

A strong hand around his arm, made him jerk away and drop his sword. He turned and saw Karkat standing next to him, looking like death warmed over twice in a dirty microwave. Karkat's hand stayed firm around Dave's arm, lowering it down, shaking his head, Dave getting a sight of bruising of the skin above the bandages that were around his neck. Dave clenched his hands tightly before burying his face in them, his shoulders shaking hard.

Karkat curled his arms around Dave, petting his back quietly to convey the comfort he couldn't verbally give before reaching down and picking up Dave's sword, handing it to him and pushing him toward the door. Dave walked out silently, emotionally drained.

Karkat watched him leave before turning to look at Gamzee, who was glowering up at him with eyes brimming in hurt and jealousy and betrayal. He bit his lip hard before turning on heel and walking out after Dave, shutting the door and running a hand down his face at the howl of agonized rage echoed from the room behind him.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Rose looked up when Dave walked in with Karkat, having not even heard the troll leave. "Karkat!" she cried, hurrying over. "What are you doing up, you're still hurt!"

Karkat gave her a clear 'look at all the fucks I give' look, steering Dave to the couch and sitting him down, petting at his head. Rose brought over some water, sitting on Dave's other side.

"…you didn't….you know…did you…?" she asked fearfully. Dave shook his head, staring down at the floor. Rose breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. Because John told me something that I think might help."

Karkat arched a brow, frowning, gesturing 'go on'.

"He kind of blanked out for a moment and forgot why he was here…he told me if Gamzee was acting up, to bring him to him. He said…he said his blood calms Gamzee down." She paused, gauging the reactions. Dave just sort of looked at her while Karkat looked like he just tasted something disgusting. "…Crazy thought. What if he's right?"

"'Crazy thought' is right, Rose," Dave said, scowling. "At least Kanaya has an excuse, that chucklefuck is just fucking INSANE." He rubbed his temples, groaning. Karkat, however, had a contemplative look on his face. Dave noticed. "What are you SERIOUS, Karkat?"

Karkat paused, then picked up his husktop and started typing.

 **YOU WOULD BE SURPRISED HOW BLOOD CAN MAKE OR BREAK SOMEONE LIKE GAMZEE.**

"I'm guessing he's been more on the 'break' side of things so far," Rose said grimly. Karkat nodded.

 **HAVE YOU LET KANAYA DRINK YOUR BLOOD YET?**

Rose blushed hard. "That's HARDLY any of your—"

 **THAT'S A YES. HAS SHE COMMENTED AT ALL ABOUT A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOUR BLOOD AND A TROLL'S?**

Fighting back more blushing, Rose thought for a moment. "…She…said it was different," she replied. "That it…sat differently with her. I was wondering what it meant, since John randomly brought it up like that. I mean, I know Kanaya and Gamzee's personal…situations are different, but what if John's right? What if his blood calms Gamzee down?"

"This is SO fucking stupid," Dave muttered, shaking his head. "SO fucking stupid…"

 **STUPID AS IT MAY BE, I PROPOSE A TEST.**

"I'm listening."

 **WE TAKE SOME OF JOHN'S BLOOD AND GIVE IT TO HIM.**

 **BUT.**

 **WE WILL PRECEED THAT TEST WITH ANOTHER.**

 **GIVE HIM SOME OF MY BLOOD.**

"Are you FUCKING insane!?" Dave shouted. "Why the FUCK would you even SAY that!?"

 **BECAUSE, FUCKASS, IN THE DRUGGED OUT STATE HE'S IN NOW, HE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE HUES.**

 **I SUGGEST MY BLOOD BECAUSE OF ITS COLOR, AND BECAUSE HE'S HAD ENOUGH EXPERIENCES WITH TROLL BLOOD FOR ME TO KNOW THAT IT DOESN'T CALM HIM IN THE LEAST.**

 **SO GIVE HIM MINE FIRST, AS SORT OF A…WHAT DO YOU FUCKING CALL IT…?**

"…Placebo effect?" Rose put in helpfully.

 **YES, THAT.**

"This is bullshit," Dave growled. "Why should we do that shithead any favors?!" He sat back on the couch, crossing his arms almost petulantly.

"It's hardly a favor to HIM," Dave," Rose said. "I agree with Karkat. I don't know how long John's going to be like this, so I'd rather do it now rather than wait and possibly make this whole situation worse." She turned to Karkat, whipping out a knife. "Care to do the honors, or should I?"

* * *

Rose quietly carried the bowl down to where Vriska was back on guard duty, trying to keep her hands from shaking and possibly dropping the bowl and having to deal with Karkat's bitching about having to give more.

She turned the corner, noticing the door was cracked, hurrying up and hoping she wasn't too late to put this plan in motion.

"—UP SHUT UP SHUT THE MOTHERFUCK UP!" Gamzee was screaming, the sounds of his chains clinking together.

"Just trying to shove some truth down your throat while you're incapacitated enough to LISTEN, Makara," Vriska said. "All you're doing is slowly killing John. SURELY you can see that."

Gamzee snarled up at her. "FUCK YOU!" he spat. "Motherfuckin' spiderbitch needs to keep her MOTHERFUCKIN' SHIT CHUTE SHUT!" His eyes went red. "YOU MOTHERFUCKIN' KILLED MY TAVROS YOU _BITCH! YOU MOTHERFUCKIN' BITCH!_ "

Vriska pushed him backwards with her foot, keeping him pinned back. "Okay. I'm going to level with you here, Subjugglafuck, so pay attention. Tavros? Never felt Flushed for you. Ever. At all. Case closed. End of story. Sorry to burst your dream bubble, but Tavros was weirded clean the fuck out by your advances, and too fucking scared of you to say anything." She tossed her hair over her shoulder. "So there we go. The truth is FINALLY out, and MAYBE you'll drop your delusions and come back to the land of fucking sensibility."

Gamzee stared at her, quivering with absolute RAGE. "…you lie," he hissed. "YOU MOTHERFUCKIN' LIAR! _LIAR!_ " He screamed, jerking hard enough to throw Vriska's foot off his chest, jerking to sit up.

Rose hurried in, nudging Vriska aside. "NOT helping!" she hissed, turning to Gamzee. "….here," she said, holding the bowl out. "….John….he told me to give this to you. So please, take it." She bit her lip, lowering the bowl down so he could see.

Gamzee saw red in the bowl. Red liquid…blood… _'John told me to give this to you'._ Johnbro's blood! He growled, practically shoving his face in the bowl, taking a large gulp.

Rose grimaced, backing away slightly, flexing her hands nervously. This was make or break, and she just hoped he—

Gamzee jerked back from the bowl, spewing out what was in his mouth, baring his blood-stained teeth in outrage. "THIS ISNT JOHNBRO'S BLOOD!" he shouted, glowering at Rose with a hate she could FEEL. "YOU MOTHERFUCKING BITCH! WHERE IS HE!? WHERE IS MY JOHN!?" He struggled against the chains, his muscles straining the links outward. "GIVE HIM BACK! MOTHERFUCKING GIVE! HIM! BACK!"

In a burst of Rage-fueled strength, the chains shattered off of his body, pieces scattering and hitting Rose and Vriska. In the short time it took them to shield themselves from the shards of chains, Gamzee grabbed them both and threw them into the wall with enough force to dent it, bolting out of the room.

Vriska pushed Rose off of her, shaking off the wooziness from hitting her head against the wall, stumbling up. "FUCK!" she shouted. "WE HAVE TO GET HIM!" She raced out after him, Rose quickly following in tow.

* * *

Dave was pacing around, scowling. "This'll never fucking work," he muttered. "This was SUCH a stupid idea."

Karkat glowered at him, wanting to shout at him to sit down and wait it out but still unable to speak. He let out a silent sigh, rubbing his face, glancing over toward the corner where John was, then to the couch where Kanaya was, chewing his lip nervously.

They both looked up when the transportalizer flashed to life and Rose and Vriska stumbled off of it, both looking terrified and on edge.

"WHERE IS HE!?" Vriska shouted, looking around wildly. Rose did the same, brandishing her needlewands.

"Where's who—oh fuck….oh god fucking DAMN IT, DON'T FUCKING TELL ME HE GOT OUT!" Dave cried, his sword snapping into his hand. "WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED!?"

"The gamble didn't pay off," Rose said, hurrying to check on John. "He tasted the difference right away and got even more pissed off than he already was! He fucking SHATTERED the chains and ran off!"

"GREAT!" Dave shrieked. "FUCKING PERFECT!" He stalked for the transportalizer. "We're doing this MY way now—get the FUCK off, Karkat, it's OVER! It's DONE WITH!" He jerked his arm out of Karkat's hold, only to have it snatched up again and then shoved toward John's corner, a glowering look plainly screaming 'STAY FOR JOHN YOU FUCKASS'.

Karkat stared Dave down, growling softly until the Knight tossed his sword to the floor and buried his face in his knee.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck…" Dave whimpered. "…..so what do we do? Just stay in here like trapped rats and wait for him to come?!"

"That's EXACTLY what we do, Dave."

Everyone jumped and looked up when Kanaya sat up and looked their way. "KANAYA!" Rose shouted, hurrying over and hugging her as gently as she could. Kanaya papped her head, smiling. "Oh god, are you alright…?"

"I'm better," Kanaya clarified. "More suited for defense rather than offense at the moment." She rubbed at her chest, frowning in discomfort. "But I'm aware of the situation." She stood up, heading over to John's corner, pulling back the curtain and staring down at him.

John was sleeping peacefully now, his injuries having healed and no apparent mental trauma agonizing him. She paused before picking up his arm, biting into it gently.

"Kanaya, the fuck are you doing?" Dave demanded, his sword back in his hand. Rose made a shushing motion at him, watching Kanaya.

Kanaya leaned back, licking her lips. "…there IS something about his blood," she murmured. "I cant put my finger on it, but…" She tensed up, everyone freezing when they heard the transportalizer flare to life.

Terezi stepped off, carrying a box of food, pausing when she could literally smell the tension in the air. "Uhh…what?" she said, looking around. Everyone heaved a collective sigh of relief. "Seriously guys, what the fu—"

The transportalizer flashed to life again, and a second later, Terezi was on the floor, bleeding from a blow to the head. Gamzee stepped off the transportalizer, his hand clenched around his teal-stained club and eyes almost glowing red. He glowered at the group in the corner, his lips pulled back in a snarl, Karkat's blood still staining his teeth and mouth.

"Motherfuckers…got a loooooooooot of motherfuckin' explaining to do," he murmured, heading over with an almost drunken swagger, swinging the club slowly. "…Tryin' to motherfuckin' poison my mouth with VILE motherfuckin' fake-ass blood…" He swung the club, taking out the entire table that was in his way.

"…singin' the motherfuckin' BLASPHEMY about my Tavros…" He kicked a laptop across the room, where it shattered against the wall.

"…and last but not motherfuckin' least, ya'll motherfuckers KEPT MY MOTHERFUCKIN' JOHN AWAY FROM ME!" He stopped within spitting distance of everyone, growling. "…Give 'im back. RIGHT THE MOTHERFUCK NOW. Before I kill all you motherfuckers. AND LEAVE YOUR CORPSES. For th' motherfuckin' squeakbeasts to eat."

Kanaya's fingers flexed close to her pocket, keeping her movements slow. "Vriska," she murmured, "get down on your knees on the floor."

"WHAT—!?"

" _Just do it!"_

Vriska scowled, but slowly lowered herself down to her knees, swallowing hard.

"Dave, put your sword on the ground," Kanaya said next. Dave's jaw tightened, but he did as he was told. "Karkat, back away to the wall, Rose to the other wall." She waited quietly as they did so, slowly stepping to the foot of John's bed, keeping eye contact with Gamzee, seeing the Subjugglator follow every movement with every intention of attacking for one false move.

Kanaya stepped back another couple of steps. "….Alright," she said. "Take him." She shot Dave a look before he could say anything, silencing him.

Gamzee growled, stepping up slowly, flicking his eyes to everyone, gripping his club tightly. He walked up to John's bed, staring down at the peacefully sleeping Heir, his expression softening slightly as he reached out and petted John's head, soft growling rumbling in his chest. He reached down to tuck his hands under John's body to pick him up—

Dave just snapped. He didn't know why, maybe it was the nerves from having to see Karkat strangled twice by his best friend, or having to hear John scream those horrible things in that almost inhuman pitch, or even just being in the PRESENCE of the insane troll doing something to his head. He snapped, snatching up his sword, and slicing into Gamzee's left calf.

Gamzee screamed, jerking back, swinging at Dave's head. Dave ducked, deflecting it with his sword, kicking Gamzee off-kilter.

"GODDAMN IT DAVE!" Rose screamed, tackling him to the ground before Gamzee's claws could swipe his face off. "WHAT EVEN THE FUCK!?"

"GET OFF, ROSE, I'M DONE! I'M FUCKING OVER IT!" Dave flailed, trying to get Rose off of him. "I'M KILLING HIM! I'M FUCKING KILLING HIM!"

"DAVE, PLEASE—" She cut off with a scream as Gamzee grabbed her by the hair and slammed her face into the wall, letting her drop, leaving a red smear on the wall. He stood up, not even bothered by his sliced calf, snarling loudly.

"MOTHERFUCKER!" he roared, grabbing Dave by the front and throwing him into a shelf, where it crushed and fell on him. He bolted after him, kicking the shelf away to pin him back and start punching his face.

Karkat grabbed his sickles, running over to Gamzee, only to be held back by Kanaya, making him let out gargled, agonized screams. She winced before slamming her fist into the back of his head to knock him out, setting him down. "VRISKA!"

"Thought you'd never ask!" she laughed, grabbing up her Fluorite Octet as Kanaya snapped out her chainsaw. "You're going DOWN, Makara!"

Gamzee looked up, glowering at them as he stood up, flexing his blood-covered hand. "…I'm goin'…to motherfuckin' kill all you motherfuckers…" he growled. "I'M GOIN' TO MOTHERFUCKIN' KILL YOU ALL!" The club in his hand was switched out for the Warhammer, stepping over Dave's bloody form. "Paint the wicked pictures with your DISGUSTING PEASANT SHIT-FOR-BLOOD. And then…" He took a step forward, his eyes a glaring red. "…when all you motherfuckers are cold…" He raised the Warhammer. "Johnbro and I…ARE GOING TO MOTHERFUCKIN' DEVOUR YOUR FUCKERS UNTIL YOU'RE GONE!"

Kanaya hissed, darting up with her chainsaw, slashing at him, only to have it blocked by the unbreakable Warhammer. Gamzee swung the Warhammer hard, knocking her back before diving after her, swinging it down again and missing her by a hair's breadth, and then swung it back to knock the Fluorite Octet out of Vriska's hand, scattering the pieces across the room.

Vriska swore loudly, having not had enough time to channel power into the dice and darted around, trying to pick the pieces up as Kanaya came at Gamzee with the chainsaw again, trying to find an opening in which to cut him. The Bard was giving her no such opening, the Warhammer clashing with her every strike.

Gamzee held out his free hand, summoning a club into it, bashing her into the head and sending her sprawling. Her chainsaw was then shattered by the Warhammer, making her curse Jokerkind forevermore, hissing at him as he stepped closer.

"You goin' first, Maryam," he growled, swinging the Warhammer back, then arching hard with a scream of pain, dropping the Warhammer.

Rose shook her head to get the blood out of her eyes, keeping her grip on her needlewands that were currently embedded in Gamzee's back. "FUCKING—BASTARD-!" she screeched. "JUST GO DOWN ALREADY!" She yelped when Gamzee reached back and threw her over his shoulder into Kanaya, spasming from the needlewands still in his back. He snarled at them, huffing like a winded hoofbeast, grabbing the Warhammer again.

"….m…motherfuckin'…!" He spat out some blood, his breathing almost labored. "…god…MOTHERFUCKIN'…damn….little SHITS…!" He growled, raising the Warhammer again. "MOTHERFUCKIN' DIE!"

Vriska dived to grab up the last of the Octet, holding them tightly before throwing them. "GIVE ME A DECENT ROLL YOU PIECES OF SH—"

 _ **Guillotine de la Marquise**_

"FUCK YES!" She grabbed a dropped club and threw it at Gamzee's legs, dripping the Bard to the floor, just as a large blue guillotine appeared around his head. "YES! FUCK YES! DIE, YOU SON OF A BITCH, DIE!"

The blade dropped.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

John could hear all manner of strife going on as he shifted awake, his head throbbing. GOD, why was everyone being so loud? Did Dave shit-talk Karkat's movies again or something? He tried to sit up, but found he couldn't. His wrists were bound to the bed he was in, like something out of a mental hospital.

The actual HELL was going on!? His eyes flew open when he could hear screaming, his vision honing in on a red stain on the wall. Oh FUCKING GOD—! He jerked harder in his bindings, looking around wildly, his vision fluxuating between blurred and split-second sharpness.

Karkat crumpled to the floor next to his bed.

Dave was by a demolished bookshelf, his face as red as his God Tier outfit in blood.

Terezi was out cold by the transportalizer

Rose was on the floor with Kanaya, her face bloody and bruised.

Gamzee…

Oh god fucking DAMN IT, GAMZEE!

He opened his mouth to call over, his voice getting stuck in his throat when he saw Vriska throw her Octet and then trip Gamzee up, a moment later, a guillotine appearing around his neck.

 _Oh god no._

John watched the blade drop, and felt something SNAP inside him, like his whole body was taking a breath after being underwater for a long time. In an instant, his body was incorporeal and ANYWHERE he wanted to be. And he wanted to be saving Gamzee's head.

Just before the blade touched Gamzee's neck, John appeared out of nowhere, smashing the guillotine to smithereens with the Warhammer as he reformed into a corporeal form.

Dead silence rang throughout the room until Gamzee lurched up, grabbing for his own Warhammer to finish what he started as Vriska went for her dice and Rose summoned her needlewands back into her hands.

"ENOUGH!" John shouted, throwing out his arms and summoning gusts of violent wind, blowing everyone back away from each other. "STOP IT! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!" He looked around at everyone, keeping his hands held out. "Weapons down! Everyone CALM DOWN and tell me what's going on!"

"…John…" Rose said, sitting up, looking pained. "…don't you remember?" She flicked her eyes to Gamzee. "…You…I mean…..John, you went crazy…! GAMZEE went crazy!" She flinched back when Gamzee stumbled up and started growling again.

"Gamzee, don't—" John hurried over to Gamzee, having to physically push him back from going for a Warhammer. "Gamzee! Calm down, please—!"

"I'MMA KILL TH' MOTHERFUCKERS!" Gamzee screamed, clawing at the air behind John as though his rage alone could reach everyone. "MOTHERFUCKIN' KILL 'EM ALL!" John pushed harder, burying his face in Gamzee's chest.

"Gamzee please, stop!" he cried, trying to wrestle Gamzee's arms down. "No one's trying to hurt us anymore!"

"Speak for yourse—"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, VRISKA!" John shoved Vriska back into the wall with his wind again, turning back to Gamzee. "Gamzee please, calm down! I'm BEGGING you, stop giving them a reason to hit back!"

Gamzee just kept screaming and shoving against John before finally picking John up and throwing him to the side, bolting for the Warhammer and swinging it at Vriska. Vriska dove out of the way and went for her Octet, only to have the Warhammer crush her hand.

Rose scrambled over to John, flinching when she heard Vriska scream. "John, we have to get the fuck out of here!" she cried. "We…we have to try to grab everyone and….FUCK, I don't KNOW…!"

John bit his lip hard, shaking his head, using his wind to blow Vriska back from getting pulverized by Gamzee. "He NEEDS to be calmed down, or he'll just follow us!" he replied. Rose let out a frustrated and badly-suppressed scream into her hands.

"FUCK THAT!" she shouted. "NOTHING IS GOING TO CALM HIM DOWN, JOHN! IT'S DONE!" She pushed off from the floor, bolting over to Kanaya to pull her over to Dave, shouting something about getting him, Karkat, and Terezi to the transportalizer while she held Gamzee off and saved Vriska.

John buried his hands in his hair, feeling that numbing in his brain creep up, panicking as the sounds of the strife and screaming became dull and muted. Everything was so WRONG. It was all falling apart. Everyone who was still alive was going to die if something wasn't done. He didn't want anyone else to die…he didn't care what they said or did. They could all work it out, if they would JUST STOP FUCKING FIGHTING!

Vriska managed to dive and grab Terezi's cane and hold it up with just her free hand and forearm to keep the Warhammer from smashing her face in, relying on her God Tier strength alone to keep the Warhammer off of her. Above her, Gamzee was putting his weight on the Warhammer, growling loudly.

"Gonna motherfuckin' kill ya," he was muttering in a dark mantra to himself, his eyes almost pure red. "Gonna motherfuckin' kill ya, gonna motherfuckin' KILL YA, GONNA MOTHERFUCKIN' KILL YA—!" He raised the Warhammer, kicked the cane from Vriska's hold, and swung back for another blow.

It wasn't the wet, sickening organic slicing sound that made him pause like everyone else, it was the SMELL. That heavy, intoxicating, soporic aroma that began to dull the sharpness in his think pan and ease that fire in his guts. He deftly lowered the Warhammer, letting it drop to the floor, turning to find the source of it all, almost being distracted by a strangled gasp from Rose.

John was standing over by Karkat, one of the troll's sickles in his hand, and blue front of his God Tier outfit covered in blood that was streaming from his throat. The Heir looked pained but almost pleased that he had gotten Gamzee's attention, swaying as he started to fall.

Gamzee was over in an instant, catching John before he hit the floor, his mouth instantly latching over the gaping wound on John's throat, a guttural moan rumbling from his chest. This was peace, he thought, his tongue sliding over the raw open cut. Perfect peace, just him and his Johnbro. He purred, feeling John's hands hold his arms, swallowing another mouthful of blood.

He paused when he felt John shaking violent in his hold, becoming aware of ragged, wet gasping. He looked up, seeing John's bloodless, panicked face, his brain trying to put two and two together.

Kanaya slipped over, ignoring Gamzee's territorial hissing. "Gamzee, he's bleeding out!" she shouted. "You have to let him go so I can help him! If he doesn't get help, he's going to die a Heroic Death! GAMZEE!"

John's body felt cold and numb, not even having the strength to hold Gamzee's arms anymore. His vision began to go black, and his hearing go dull, his last conscious experience of hearing Gamzee snarling and Kanaya and Rose screaming.

Shit. Dying sort of sucks, especially when it felt it was going to be perma-death. He was pretty sure cutting his throat to calm Gamzee down and prevent deaths would be considered Heroic.

He just hoped it wouldn't have been in vain.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Rose silently walked down the hall with a basket of essentials, looking almost somber. The past few weeks had been difficult to get through, for her and for everyone. There had just been SO much pain and hurt, and the aftermath was too traumatic for anyone to get any rest for DAYS. Eventually though, everyone succumbed to exhaustion too deep for even dream bubbles to wake up to.

Things were edgy in waking up, and there was a minor panic in finding Gamzee, only for everyone to realize he had shanghaied the top of a bookshelf to sleep. It took some coaxing to get him to come down, and Rose even had to utilize some of her experience of dealing with a spooked cat.

Rose sighed, walking through a door. "I brought you some things, Gamzee," she said, not even having to look around to know he was situated on a pile of cloths, clothing, drapery, and pillows he had collected up. Gamzee lazily looked over when she walked in, not bothering to sit up, his yellow eyes following her as she stepped closer and held out the basket.

"Some Faygo, dried hoofbeast strips, eggs—"—he preferred to eat them raw for some reason—"—some more white paint…" She trailed off, purposely avoiding what he inevitably always went for first, pushing the basket toward him and stepping back.

Gamzee's hand slipped into the basket, immediately fishing out a large jar of red liquid, finally sitting up as he unscrewed it. Rose swallowed hard and averted her eyes. She hated this part of the run, every time. She flexed her hands slightly, hearing Gamzee guzzle down the contents of the jar with a loud, contented purr, then put the jar back into the basket before taking everything else out and shoving it in the corner where the rest of his stash was, curling back up on the pile.

Rose quietly picked the basket up, trying to hurry out before she would hear Gamzee's soft crying. She never made it out fast enough. She forced her own tears back as she walked to the rec room, putting the basket down.

"How'd it go?" Terezi said, getting the jar out of the basket to wash it and put it with the others.

"…The usual," Rose replied, sitting down, rubbing her face. "…Kind of wish Karkat would do it again."

"You know he wont," Terezi replied, sitting down across from her. "The last time he did, he spent so much time shooshpapping Gamzee he felt like he was committing Pale infidelity."

"Yeah," Rose said. "Dave's reaction didn't exactly help that situation out. Cant blame him a lot though. He still blames Gamzee for John." She sat back hard. "God, I could use a drink."

Terezi snorted, recalling Kanaya bitch-slapping Rose upside the head for trying to alchemize some liquor a week ago. "You're not the only one. And I've never had the stuff." She frowned, kicking her feet slightly. "…What bothers you the most about going on those runs? You always come back smelling like a thunderstorm."

Rose rubbed her arm, nibbling her lip. "….Because…it just reminds me of how miserable they both are." She glanced across the room, looking on sadly at the almost literal cloud of depression that was hovering over her friend.

GOD, it had been such a close call with John. It was almost too late by the time Gamzee had finally relinquished his hold on John. Kanaya had to improvise some serious Frankenstein stitching just to stop the blood flow, and everyone conscious at that time prayed to whatever god they thought would listen that it would be enough to hold off a Heroic Death. Rose knew Vriska would deny it until the end of existence, but she swore the Thief gave up a shit ton of luck to John to pull that miracle to pull off.

After everyone stopped passing out from exhaustion and head trauma, Kanaya took charge and forbade ANYONE from attacking ANYONE on threat of dismemberment. She then handed Gamzee two cups and told him she needed samples to confirm a hunch of hers.

It took a good while for Kanaya to figure out what exactly the huge fracas was concerning John. She explained that Gamzee's ingestion of sopor slime over a long period of time had absorbed the toxins into his body to an extent that his bodily fluids had become heavily diluted versions of sopor. Not enough to keep Gamzee calm, but certainly enough for a human to be affected by it.

Rose had been correct in her musings that John's behavior resembled that of someone going through detox. She was almost horrified to learn that too much longer undiagnosed like that would have probably permanently damaged John's brain, keeping him in a constant 'high'. If anything would have resulted in a doomed timeline, it was THAT.

As for why John's blood calmed Gamzee down, she had shoved her face in her pillow and screamed upon learning Gamzee's simple explanation was 'shit tastes like sopor'. Karkat's placebo idea hadn't worked, but THAT did? Jeegus flipping Christmas.

Well after everything was explained and John was making his fiftieth round of apologies, Kanaya dropped the news that it was best that John and Gamzee not be in the same room for the unforeseeable future, her reasoning being that John was still working through his 'addiction' to Gamzee's fluids to the point where even smelling Gamzee's scent could trigger him.

However, she decided it WOULD be beneficial for Gamzee to keep up with his blood habit. Everyone else voiced their disgusted outrage, but she held firm to her decision, saying John would donate some every other day for Gamzee to drink. In a separate room, of course.

Now, after several passes on her run, Rose knew why Kanaya decided to keep Gamzee on the blood. Keeping them apart was wearing thin on Gamzee…and John too, it seemed. Kanaya wouldn't allow them in the same room until Gamzee's body was ridden of the sopor toxins.

John had long since been completely detoxed, but it didn't help his mood any. The only time he looked hopeful was when he was putting his blood in the jar, knowing it would be the one link between him and Gamzee they had until god-knew-when. And then he would go back to being listless and disinterested.

Terezi turned her head, catching the smell of grey gloom. "…Told you they had a thing," she replied. "This is pretty much textbook matesprit separation syndrome right here." Over by the table, Karkat grumbled.

"Sure, sure, I solicit the fuckass for a respectable kismesissitude, and he's all 'I'm not a homosexual, Karkat!'. The goddamn clown abducts his dumb ass and they end up Flushed. The actual FUCKING FUCK!?" He literally punched his keyboard.

Terezi snickered. "Was that before or AFTER John found out we apparently have 'both'?" she asked.

"Both WHAT!?"

Rose shook her head, walking over to John and sitting down next to him. "Hey," she said. "You okay?"

John nodded, adjusting the glasses Rose had repaired for him up his nose. "I'm fine," he replied. Rose shook her head.

"No, you're not," she said. "But…you will be. Eventually. Kanaya is giving Gamzee some solution that'll detoxify his body before you know it." She squeezed John's shoulder, her smile brightening when he gave her a hint of a smile.

"….yeah," he replied. "I guess so." He then actually laughed when Karkat began shouting unintelligible explicatives at the image Terezi pulled up of human genitals, only laughing harder when Karkat threw the computer across the room to make the images go away.


	18. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Gamzee laid face-down on his cloth pile, poking at a half-empty bottle of Faygo sighing heavily for the umpteenth time in the hour since Karkat dragged him to the bathroom and forced him to take a bath. Truth be told, Gamzee only went because it was a form of companionship he was badly craving, since the only people he saw these days were Kanaya and Rose.

Kanaya only came to check on his toxin levels and make him drink some shit that tasted worse than polluted seawater that she swore would help make the toxins flush out faster. He refused to touch it until he saw her drink it first. It still took about two long weeks before he would trust that she was really trying to help him.

Rose was for the most part the only other person he saw, but the looks of pity she gave him made him uncomfortable. She was still the only other person who showed him kindness, so he tolerated her pity.

The one and only time Karkat had come to give him John's blood hadn't ended well. His former Pale-crush had calmed him down for over an hour before getting incredibly uncomfortable and spoke up about his feelings of Pale infidelity to Dave. Dave's impatient knocking on Gamzee's door to see what was taking Karkat so long only exacerbated those feelings. He hadn't come back again after that.

Terezi came once, but she just pushed the basket into his room before absconding. He was thankful Vriska or Dave never came.

In between visits, he was left completely alone. No one came just to check up on him. He was never invited out for anything. But he didn't exactly motivate himself to leave either. The only motivation he had to look forward to was the day Kanaya told him his body was completely detoxified.

So really, he didn't put up a fight when Karkat came to tell him to grab some clean clothes and get his ass in the bath because if he had to listen to Rose complain about his BO one more time, he'd shove a bar of soap up his ass. He didn't like being supervised, though, and couldn't even allow himself a soak with Karkat watching him to make sure he didn't go for the vents, and Dave outside, fully armed.

Still, it was something. He washed, dried, and was led back to his respiteblock without a word of conversation between them, and was left alone again. He would have certainly gone insane, had he not had a jar of John's blood waiting for him when he got back.

Instead of drinking it though, he simply held it in his hands, noting that the jar was warm, and stayed warm. Miraculous….

He simply held the jar close as he poked the bottle of Faygo, hoping to make it last as long as he could. It was the closest thing he could get to having John here with him, a fact that even sounded ridiculously sad in his own damaged think pan. The repetitive poking ceased being amusing, and he shifted over to curl up on the cloth pile, making himself comfortable as he slept off another pointless, lonely day.

He didn't know how long he slept for, but he found himself blinking awake when he heard his door close. It couldn't be time for another toxin check, could it…?

The scent of air hit him like a ton of bricks, and he sat up quickly, his blood pusher pounding in his chest, coming eye-level with a blue shirt. Messiahs be blessed, don't let this be a hallucination…

He shakily reached out, touching the Aspect symbol on the shirt. _'Please be motherfuckin' real,'_ he thought, flexing his fingers into the fabric. _'Please be motherfuckin' real.'_ He felt a soft, cool hand take his own and squeeze gently. _'Messiahs please be motherfuckin' real…!'_

He saw John kneel down to his eye-level, blue eyes staring back into his purple-grey ones, a soft smile on that face he almost forgot looked like. "….Johnbro," he murmured, making it come out more of a question than a general observation.

John's smiled broadened. "Yeah," he said, reaching up to pet Gamzee's still-damp hair. "…couldn't stay away…it's been too long already." He leaned forward, resting his forehead against Gamzee's.

Gamzee clenched his hands into John's shirt, feeling tears well up in his eyes. His deepest devoted prayers had been answered, at LAST. "Did Kanaya—"

"I don't give a fuck," John said harshly. "I REALLY, REALLY don't give a fuck." He pushed Gamzee back on the cloth pile, grabbing the jar of blood and contemplating it for a moment before hurling it against the wall, where it created an enormous splatter across the wall.

' _Motherfuckin' wicked pictures…'_ Gamzee deftly thought, staring at it before turning back to John, whose face was flushed a soft red. John took off his glasses, giving Gamzee the full view of strongly dilated pupils. The small voice of concern that was about to make itself known was destroyed with the utmost intensity when John kissed him hard.

* * *

Karkat ran through everyone's rooms, shouting for them to wake the fuck up and RIGHT THE FUCK NOW. John was missing from his room. Everyone sprung up to action quickly, especially since just earlier that day, Rose told them John told her he 'couldn't take it much longer anymore'. Everyone feared the worst.

Terezi couldn't even smell him out. John had changed his scent to perfectly match the smell of the compound.

Rose ran to Gamzee's room, hoping that maybe John had gone there, opening the door and screaming when she saw the splatter of blood on the wall, as well as the smeared message written on it.

 **CANT KEEP US APART**

Scrawled under the message was a ≈ and a :o).

Terezi hurried in, cringing when she smelled the sickening mix of the blood and the musk of pheromones. Karkat began swearing up a storm, shouting for everyone to find them and find them NOW.

Had they been there just ten minutes before, they would have seen John and Gamzee walking down the hall hand-in-hand, off to find someplace discreet to be. They both knew it was only a matter of time before they were found. They both knew they had destroyed the detoxing process they had both made. Provided they didn't kill anyone, they would possibly have to be separated again.

But first, they would have to be found.


End file.
